Story highlights Levy says more colleges are devoting money to scholarships that reward those who already can afford to pay, reducing assistance for needy students

Taking scarce financial aid dollars from low-income students to give to students who don't need it amounts to Robin Hood in reverse, he says

Former New York City Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy is executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which awards scholarships to high-achieving students from low-income families and grants to organizations that serve such students. The views expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) There's a growing competition among colleges and universities to enroll students who can foot the bill for their education with little or no financial aid from the schools. But paradoxically, the colleges are attempting to attract these highly sought-after students by giving them financial aid -- even when the students can pay their bills without it.

The result? Less scholarship funding is available for low-income students who are then unable to attend because they can't afford an expensive college education without a big aid package.

Harold O. Levy

More and more colleges are setting aside financial assistance for what are known as "merit scholarships." U.S. News and World Report found that in the 2014-15 academic year, the 100 colleges and universities giving the highest percentages of students merit aid provided the assistance to between 28 and 68% of students, not counting athletic scholarships.

Merit assistance has nothing to do with financial need. It rewards students with scholarships for a variety of accomplishments, such as getting a high GPA, receiving high scores on standardized tests and earning a high class rank.

High school students with achievements like these are certainly worthy of recognition, and their accomplishments can help them compete for admission to college. But taking scarce financial aid dollars from low-income students to give to students who don't need it amounts to Robin Hood in reverse -- robbing from the poor to give to the rich.