That is the universities marketing & legal defense. But in reality "getting creative" is encouraged to find funding for speciality programs that run at a loss,

That is the universities marketing & legal defense. But in reality "getting creative" is encouraged to find funding for speciality programs that run at a loss, like sailing. The Universities will take money to "specially consider" an applicant, 500K is just not enough for Stanford or Harvard these days that price tag is in the tens of millions.