Over the last couple of years, colleges have been defecting from long held norms over financial aid and admissions policy. One example is the switch from loans-only financial aid to direct grants by some elite colleges. Another is dropping the need-blind admissions policy and letting ability to pay influence admissions.
What accounts for this breakup of old norms in higher education? My understanding of higher education history is that meritocratic ideals became the standard by the 1960's or so, and that a number of measures were implemented to keep this standard (price discrimination via financial aid). So what prompts the change? Of course, maybe the more basic question was: were these norms followed by many colleges at all? Maybe recent events reflect long standing state of higher ed. that we haven't recognized. Fabio
