See comment # 69, or below:
...the federal financial aid system for students penalizes "high" income. A family of four in Manhattan with $5 million in property and cash on hand but zero income (just living off the accumulated cash) will get Pell grants while a family in Northern Virginia with both parents working, making $150,000 annually, will get slapped with student loans.
IMHO, the folks with money already find ways to hang on to their money. The income tax penalizes folks who try to move up the social ladder, and the college financial aid system penalizes kids who attempt to work their way through college or attempt to avoid debt in college.
My #2 son experienced the latter problem. He returned from his tour in Kuwait/Iraq with the USMC Reserves and found a job at In-and-Out Burger. He tried the community college approach, but found it to be little more than a super high school. He took a more ambitious approach. He studied and passed the real estate sales license exam. He then took a position at a real estate office where he was paid $500 per closing. The broker was pocketing the big commissions. My son decided to turn the experience into an "on the job training" opportunity. Soon, he was running the office. Still, the broker pocketed the commissions and never credited him on the paperwork with the sales he was closing. He earned enough to start working on a BS in Business Administration with augmentation from his GI bill and student loans. Because he had an income, the repayment cycle for the student loans started almost immediately.
Fast forward to Nov 2005. He took the CA real estate broker's license and passed the exam. He opened his own real estate office and hired good sales and loan staff. He finished his courses in May 2006 and walked through commencement exercises in July 2006.
He continues to pay the student loans. It will take 5 more decent commissions to retire his student loans. It wasn't easy. It wasn't handed to him on silver platter. It took hard work and discipline. He is now the employer of 26 people with two corporations...at age 23. He's also still a LCPL in the USMC Reserves.
When his hitch in the USMC Reserves ends in July 2007, he intends to apply to law school. The reason for waiting is that he wants to go to better law schools than he can find in San Diego. His reserve obligations are at MCAS Miramar.