The college tuition model is partly at fault. On a campus, kids are paying all different tuition rates.

Some are paying full price. Usually, those are ordinary (not great) students whose parents have a good income, so the FAFSA "expected family contribution" is high.

Some really good students, or relatively good minority students, are getting substantial merit aid.

Some kids are getting student loans and grants because they don't have a lot of money. Most colleges give a lot of loans, not grants.

There are other special categories too. Athletes, etc.

The experience is so expensive, and the payments vary so much from student to student, that a spirit of unfairness pervades the situation. Some kids are incurring life-altering debt, some other kids with a "hook" are getting it for free. So if there's some way to beat the system, there's not a lot of moral social pressure involved.

Colleges think this is OK because it allows them to target aid where they want, to "mold" their student body. But people notice.