Rising tuition costs + more generous financial aid packages are a shell game for donor money. Money usually comes in from various donors with strings attached,

Rising tuition costs + more generous financial aid packages are a shell game for donor money. Money usually comes in from various donors with strings attached, so that it must get spent on the donors' pet projects. College administrators then go "oh no! tuition is so high, look at all these qualified students who won't get to attend," to convince these donors that financial aid is a worthwhile pet project. Administrators then raise the tuition to compensate for the new financial aid pool they just cooked up. Money earmarked for financial aid then gets "spent" by going right back to the college with the earmark removed. That money can now be spent on the administrators' pet projects, including higher salaries for themselves.