The FA should be based on student's quality, not based on their parents' ability to afford.
If some parent happens to have an AGI slightly more than 180K, should he work much hard to have an extra 50-60K post-tax income for his kid's college education, or should he work a little less to make his or her kid be qualified for receiving FA?
If the parents choose to work hard to make a compensation for post tax money draining into kid's college education, they have to work extra hard to make probably 100K pre-tax gross income to get an extra post tax money, 50-60K, how much work should the parents have to do? Of course, the thise kind of parents who make not much than 180K are not happy about the current FA design.
Don't forget, the parents who make more than 180 have already paid their due to Uncle Sam.
