<p>It obviously hasn’t happened and I don’t think it will be happening. Why? Because need based aid is based on EFC or FAFSA which relies heavily on current income. What is the problem with that? It overstates how much people can afford. Just an example of our family- we are military, our wages are highly progressive. A good portion of the total income is based on where we live. So if we live in a low cost housing area, we look poorer and if we live in a high cost, like right now, we look richer. With out current income and with their projections that you have been saving since birth, they give us an EFC that is totally not possible for us. We have only had the income anywhere near this level the last few years and when these children were born, we were way below median income so there was no savings for college- that was used for things like food and clothing. Without merit aid or low COA, we couldn’t afford college. I am sure many, many others are in the same boat. Colleges also use merit aid to discount the price to a more affordable range. Otherwise, why would some colleges give almost everybody some merit or need based aid?</p>