Not to people with more than two brain cells in a row.
I don’t think most people make the connection between subsidies and the cost of college.
You hear these news reports about college costs increasing, and then you also hear politicians out there, saying we need to increase financial aid programs, etc. to help with rising costs. What people don’t realize is that part of the reason for the steep rise in college costs is because this financial aid is available to pay for these increases.
The costs of college have risen far more than the rate of inflation in the last 30 years or so. There are various factors involved. One is financial aid paying the freight, and another is that many colleges have added so many administrators, diversity officers, useless academic programs, luxury dorms, etc. that they would not be spending money on, if not for the gravy train of financial aid paying the freight.