Boy, wanna talk about perverse incentives? How about this "typical assets" business? One more way today's world proves you're a sucker to be frugal and save. Stanford is indeed a luxury, and there's no reason a well-off family should not pay for it. But these free rides are not coming only from endowments. If you're paying full freight, you're not covering just your kid but a couple other kids too. This is a mad way to price products. Only maybe healthcare is less rational.
You misread me, and put words in my mouth. I'm not objecting to getting or giving a hand.
Consider two families. One makes $100k/year and has $750k saved. They drive modest cars, live in a modest home, take modest vacations and drive their kid across town every day to the public (free to them) magnet school. The other family lives very well, has nothing saved, a house that they can't afford, and debt from paying for private school. Which one should get the free ride at Stanford? Which one will?
With real interest rates below zero and a bailout culture, which family is living the modern version of the American dream?