One reason, at least, that they skew toward wealth is that they don&#x27;t market themselves to others. Recent research has shown that the best poor students often have no idea that Harvard and other elite schools exist (as hard as that is to believe for most people on HN), much less that they might be accepted and afford to attend, and that they never apply. Remember that many of these students come from a world where few go to college, much less where elite schools are discussed or where their graduates and others with those kinds of career are around them.<p>And the few who make it fail at much higher rates; from what I recall research points to the fact that colleges are geared toward middle&#x2F;upper-middle class students, mostly white. The cultural adjustment is huge (remember these are 18 year olds leaving their neighborhoods for the first time) and few adults or peers understand their situation. Also, many have poor support from home, financially and socially; rather than receiving encouragement, they get asked why they are wasting time and money on college.<p>In effect (and assuming Harvard follows those patterns) Harvard offers aid with the knowledge that few will take it, and without orienting their services to serve the new students. They could do much better. From what I understand, Amherst has gone a long way toward solving these problems.