Right, there is always the option to create a sliding scale system based on geography.
New Jersey has(had?) a similar scholarship program ( Bloustein Distinguished Scholarships) that gave scholarships to students who graduated in the top 5% of their class, so while the kids coming out as top 5% of Newark public schools were probably not as prepared for college as kids coming out of tony suburban high schools, it still spread the scholarship pie out amongst the state’s entire graduating senior class each year. It promotes the futures for a wide range of success stories, across all the socio-economic strata in New Jersey’s highly diverse population.
And the SAT and ACT are most definitely not merit based. Never have been, never will.
Huh?
The SAT and ACT were designed to be merit based and are still the most equal and fair measures we have.