Not really - most schools are pretty explicit (behind closed doors) about what it costs to get your kid in...submit an application, admissions looks at how qualified the candidate is, tells development, and they come up with a "suggested donation" a at Harvard a kid with good grades and SATs etc that would be a shoe in for say a top tier small liberal arts college (but wait list/rejection at Harvard) might cost ~$500k to $1M...so when you see people making really large donations it usually has more to do with legacy...or believe it or not appreciation for the opportunities afforded to them by their alma mater...that being said the whole notion of student aid is skewed by inflated/fake tuition prices...it's like paying $500 for an aspirin in the hospital the Medicaid patient paid 2% of that price, the Medicaid patient paid 10% private insurance 50% and cash 80-100% how much does an aspirin cost?
