First of all, I asked a question. I was not perpetuating anything. While 60% is “most”, it still leaves 40% who aren’t getting aid, which is not an insignificant number. Perhaps OP should look at schools that guarantee to meet need without loans.
Second of all, elite public universities can be very expensive for out of state students. Cal and UCLA for example give little to no aid to OOS students. They cost over $80K a year. That seems expensive to me.
Third, I have read of many students being full pay at top private schools. Just the other day I was talking to a girl who turned down Harvard for Maryland because she would have been full pay at Harvard but got a lot of merit from UMD. It can depend on the student’s financial info, which we are not privy to. Maybe she was lying, IDK, but I have no reason to believe that she was.
Lastly, I mentioned upthread that private colleges can cost less than public schools, which was the case for us. Your comment about me perpetuating a myth is false.