>>>He's on the dean's list at the community college and his chances of getting aid at a four year school during the last two years are pretty good.
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>Sounds as if he's doing well and I'm glad that academic record increases the chances of aid. It should- doing sport or not doing well at High School should not pigeon hole you for the rest of your life if you go to Uni and work hard. As for reward for high grades: Ivy League seems to have formed a pact not to grant scholarships for academic excellence. Now it's all "financial aid" of which Ivy League has vast quantities, but one of the absolute denial criteria is parent/s earning more than about $250K from memory. You're looking at about $50K/annum tuition if you pay yourself, which would tear a hole even in $250K once the tax man claims his share and that's assuming there's only one kid. Seems it's easier to be poor or rich to easily attend Ivy League these days.The Middle Class gets the worst deal.
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A number of the Ivies and their peers are now grants-only, so students graduate with no debt. They're also mostly "need-blind" admissions. As you say, the Ivies don't do merit-based aid (which makes sense, since all their students have that merit). They also don't give athletic scholarships.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/best-value indicates that Ivies have about 50% of students receiving need-based grants. They're showing average cost after aid closer to $20.

Also, my understanding is that aid does get adjusted for multiple kids in school. (I can probably get more info from my sister, who'll have two in college in the fall.)

Tamar