Secret Source Of Income For Colleges

Colleges earn millions of dollars each year, not through tuition and fees, but through investments. This source of income is independent of their student population. The monies used to make these investments come from gifts given by Alumni and Corporations called “endowment”. The colleges are not taxed on the substantial income they earn from those tax-deductible gifts and they often have discretion on how these endowment funds are used.
Colleges control 95% of all monies available for financial aid, or $42 to $60 BILLION per year. Colleges use these monies to “buy” the students they want to recruit based on their needs. Surprisingly, PRIVATE colleges can cost less than PUBLIC schools, if you know how to approach them.

Preferential packing is a more polite term for buying freshman. The students who are most attractive to a college get the best financial aid package, or they receive more grants and free money verses less loans and work-study. In a survey by National Association of College Admission Counselors (http://www.nacacnet.org), 54 % of the colleges that responded say that use preferential packing.