[baking]

"The published cost of attendance is a fiction almost no one pays."

"Net effect: a $175k household with a house and a 401(k) is judged "full pay," pays near-sticker from already-taxed income, and receives essentially nothing."

I never know how to resolve these two statements. In our case, my daughter happened to choose a good public university. Maybe that is what they mean.

[postflopclarity]

it's easily resolvable. the first statement is a lie: MANY students pay the full, published cost of attendance.

[pc86]

What do either of those quoted statements have to do with public universities specifically?

[baking]

At high-end private universities, "The published cost of attendance is a fiction almost no one pays."

Yet, most upper-middle-income students are considered "full-pay."

Therefore, most upper-middle-income students now attend public universities.

Or at least that is the conclusion I drew from the two statements I quoted.

[cliglot]

I gave up with a dreams of returning to school when I realized in my early 20s, despite paying my own rent, bills, taxes, etc, the financial aid system considered me a dependent of my father still and lumped his income in with the calculations done to determine what I get/don’t get.