>>Our experience in watching the kids around us is that the people who have the worst deal in all this are the middle income folks. Upper income can just pay, truly poor get great financial aid. But the ones in the middle often have to make the school choice based on the tuition and the aid package.

That's a significant issue IMHO, and not just in education- check out healthcare as well, where medical bills now are the largest cause of bankruptcy for *insured* middle class breadwinners. Much of the nation's wealth actually comes via the middle class, especially their small businesses, so perhaps it's time to rise up again in the interests of fairness. ;-)