US: Universities seek out students of means

Money is talking a bit louder in college admissions these days, according to a survey released last week by Inside Higher Ed, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times.

More than half of the admissions officers at public research universities, and more than a third at four-year colleges, said that they had been working harder in the past year to recruit students who need no financial aid and can pay full price, according to the survey of 462 admissions directors and enrolment managers conducted in August and early September. Similarly, 22% of admissions officials at four-year institutions said the financial downturn had led them to pay more attention in their decision to applicants' ability to pay.

In the survey, 10% of the admissions directors at four-year colleges, and almost 20% at private liberal-arts schools, said that full-pay students they were admitting, on average, had lower grades and test scores than other admitted applicants.
Full report on The New York Times site