Whether obscure deals or aid make things possible today, I don't know. Put simply: today's students are not looking at the same options as those just a few years ago.
Thanks for the anecdotal data, glad to know there are still options. The overall stats in the chart may be skewed by the expensive institutions becoming that much more expensive, but still… my anecdote is that the regional state school I graduated from in 2004 (not a community college, but not a top-ranked place) is in the $5k-$6k range for 15-credit in-state semester today. And I checked that its below average for in-state tuition, all the state schools are in that range.
If your "transfer…" comment refers to community college, that's a smart financial decision but not exactly the topic of the post I was replying to.