States' Slow, Steady Embrace of Need-Based Aid

“While need-based aid is uniformly favored by those who view financial aid (especially government-funded aid) primarily through its historical prism as a way to encourage college going, the use of merit-based financial aid -- once largely the province of private nonprofit colleges -- has been embraced by some states (especially in the South) to keep academically talented students within the states' own borders. Major statewide lottery-funded programs have been criticized for aiding wealthier students more than poor ones, and the newest ‘in’ state aid programs -- those that make tuition free for all state residents or large swaths of them -- also can disproportionately help upper-income students and families.”