Unless that middle class family has children going to schools that meet full need - those EFC numbers were/are basically meaningless beyond determining whether the students qualify for federal aid: Pell grants, Stafford direct loans and Parent Plus loans. If the students are going to meets full need schools - the CSS was/is going to determine what those families pay (not their EFC/SAI number).
Most families are sending their children to schools that never promised to meet full need. So, it didn’t matter if their EFC for 2 children was $32k or $64k - the schools themselves would tell the families what they were expected to pay…and it often was higher than the EFC/SAI number created by filling out the FAFSA.
There are many, many students with EFCs of $0. That is rarely what they are expected to pay. Usually they/their families are offered Parent Plus loans to make up the thousands of $$ difference.
Exactly what your middle class family will also be offered if their aid packages change. Your middle class family is in no worse condition than any other family in the same circumstances. As opposed to getting an advantage as they were before. Now all families are treated the same.
If that middle class family has to pay more - that is on the schools’ [their children attend] decisions on how to allocate aid - it literally has nothing to do with the Federal changes.