If your parents made less money, all other things being equal, you'd be in better shape. $150k just gets you out of the income bracket that gets heavy financial

If your parents made less money, all other things being equal, you'd be in better shape. $150k just gets you out of the income bracket that gets heavy financial aid from the endowments at top-tier schools, and so you, or someone, has to pay nearly full-price. In comparison, my teacher and mechanic parents made slightly under 100k, underneath the line where financial aid kicked in heavily enough to be competitive with my local state university, and so I graduated with just the federal Perkins and Stafford loans I had to take out, to the tune of around 20k in debt.