Some of this may be out of habit. In the olden days, way back in 2014, the FAFSA didn’t open until January 1 so the earliest financial aid based on the FAFSA could be issued was in February. If you filed Jan 1, you were using estimated taxes so had to wait until you filed to link the DRT. A lot of the application and filing deadlines are still set with the old dates.
One kid’s tuition went up $2k every year (including from when we looked at it in high school). Original tuition was $32k and her last year was $41k. Merit award was set as a freshman and never increased. Pell grant didn’t increase, state merit didn’t increase…
Other kid’s at a public school didn’t increase enough so that I noticed in the 5 years she was there.