It’s largely about future earnings. Not making a value based judgement on whether companies should offer them, but this is why they don’t.
This^^^. Financial need = cannot attend without assistance. This applies in UG, since federal loans have relatively modest caps, and people whose parents have bad credit and/or low income simply do not have the ability to borrow the COA at most schools. Plus, they have very uncertain future earnings prospects, depending on what they are studying.
OTOH, every medical student in the country, other than those attending schools like CNU that do not participate in the federal loan program, has an ability to borrow the full COA to become a doctor, where even the lowest paying specialty will place them in top 1-5% of the country in terms of future income. People might be poor now, but no one "needs" scholarship money to attend medical school.
In fact, many low income applicants who are not fortunate enough to be admitted to Harvard, NYU, Columbia, etc. find that, even with a FAFSA EFC of $0, including their parents' income, their financial aid consists entirely of federal and institutional loans. They all go on to have great lives, either repaying the loans or becoming eligible for loan forgiveness.
Many private donors would rather their money go to pay for more teachers, social workers, philosophers, etc. than doctors, who, as
@voxveritatisetlucis said, will have a very healthy future income to fund their education, and only need access to loans, not gifts.
