"It was not even close in most of those cases,"Fitzsimmons says.

Only seven of the 63 surveyed students werefrom families with incomes below $30,000,according to Evans.

In contrast, 48 were from families earning morethan $40,000. And 13 were from families withincomes $100,000 or more.

Because so many of the Blacks accepted are fromthe middle class, Harvard ends up offering themless financial assistance than schools withnon-need-based scholarships.

Harvard determines a student's level of "need"based on a needs-analysis worksheet processed bythe Educational Testing Service.

But other schools go beyond a financial needformula to recruit minorities.

Washington University drew two potentialHarvard students away with Ervin scholarships forAfrican-American students. Ten Ervin scholarsreceive full tuition plus a stipend each.

Harold Wingood, Washington's dean ofadmissions, says the school has an edge overHarvard in terms of recruitment and the atmosphereof its campus.

"I do not think that in the final analysis astudent decides to come to Harvard instead ofWashington for money," he says. "Ultimately, thestudent selects the right match."

Duke wooed away three would-be members of theClass of '96--one with an untargeted Angier BiddleDuke scholarship, and another with theminority-targeted Reginald Howard scholarship.

The University of Virginia also draws Blackstudents away from Harvard with its Hollandscholarship for out-of-state African-Americans, aswell as another scholarship program for 50 BlackVirginians.

"If you want to get the best minority students,you have to provide some incentives," says MikeMallory, director of minority recruitment at theUniversity of Virginia.

The bidding war for students is a nationaltrend, and it's not limited to minority students.

Roger Banks, interim coordinator of minorityrecruitment at Harvard, says schools arerecruiting all types of students because there arefewer college-bound students.

"All of higher education is reaching out tothat smaller cohort of students that are going tocollege and talented and desirable," Banks says.