[alistairSH]

That's not 100% accurate (the middle class is NOT ignored at the elite privates). For example, Stanford meets 100% of the tuition for students with family income <=$150k.[1] And the assistance doesn't evaporate completely at $151k. For families with incomes <$65k, tuition and expenses are covered. Most of the Ivies are similar.

The problem is really at elite publics, which don't have the massive endowments, so cannot subsidize middle class students.

We're at a point where it can be LESS expensive for many middle class students to attend Harvard than UMich or UVA.

1 - https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/how/parent.html