I think colleges should be blatant about being about pay for admittance. Pay 5 million a year and your child can go to the college. So 100 people do it, it should lower college costs for those that earn admission.
That’s the way it used to be, back before public school teacher unions and government-backed student college loans came into existence. But back then, when college standards for admittance and course quality were way higher, the colleges did recognize the candidate’s secondary school excellence of preparation with scholarships to get the best students who would maintain the college’s reputation. Scholarships were given based on academic merit, not “financial need.”