I do not know about Stanford in particular, but elite schools have some of the best financial aid programs in the US. If against odds a kid from a blue collar f

I do not know about Stanford in particular, but elite schools have some of the best financial aid programs in the US. If against odds a kid from a blue collar family gets into an Ivy, they might very well pay zero tuition (which was the case for a number of acquaintances of mine). However, this money was not paid to the school to buy a spot. It was paid to a white collar criminal who falsified data in order to make it look like the kid "deserved" to get in Stanford.