I’m not going to get into a debate on the application system for financial aid because it’s against the terms of service on this site to debate.
I will say, there are lots of situations where you don’t know the “real cost” up front. When was the last time you bought a car or house?
This has been discussed numerous times on this forum with reference to other countries. The tax and economic structure of those countries, as well as even access to college, are different than here.