Okay-- pragmatically, unless they specifically STATE that they are "need-blind" the institution must make sure that they are admitting a sufficient percentage of a freshman class which can (and will) pay full tuition...
otherwise, they are dipping into the endowment year after year, and will eventually run the well dry. Well, okay-- places like Harvard can afford that given their portfolio, but those places can AFFORD to be 'need-blind.'
Most can't. Not really.
Secondarily, there is also a push to create DIVERSITY on a campus-- and this is a real thing which is not nefarious in its intentions, but is actually something that administrators and faculty do in an attempt to create a broader, richer LEARNING environment for potentially sheltered students who may only have encountered others of their own race, religion, and SES up until now.
SES is a part of that diversity.
