Back to OP premise - many might suspect with an income of $250k you don’t need aid. My situation is similar. I do not make $250k, but do make enough that my DS will not qualify for ‘need based’ aid at a public school. I live in California. One of my DS was accepted to UC Irvine. The COA is roughly $30k for in state. Even with an EFC under the $30k, my son was offered no aid.
I have one DS at Notre Dame. They offer some need based aid to families with income up to $250k. I am sure other private institutions, Stanford comes to mind, have similar higher ceilings for aid. With so many schools MSRP at $70k, can a family afford to spend almost 30% of their income on the kids education?