That "scholarship" is being "paid" for by other students who foot the full tuition. The "true" cost of the education is substantially lower than the "full" price, but the additional is used to spread the wealth to those in "need."
What galls me is that there are instances where those in "need" have more than me, but are clever enough to be able to hide it. To whit: The developer of my subdivision is an "employee" of his company which is legally owned by his mother. He receives a modest salary yet lives in a 7 bedroom mansion with 5 car garage and heated swimming pool and tennis courts, all also in his mother's name (I'm guessing that he pays some modest rent). Because he has 8 kids and "modest" income and no real-estate his FAFSA shows that his "family contribution" is about 1/4 of what mine works out to be. It really steams me that when the FAFSA reporting is finally over for him, the business/house will be transferred to his name and he'll be a multi-millionaire having benefitted by reduced tuition that was subsidized by my payments.