Wouldn’t that “sweet spot” be simple situations like:
- Most income is W-2 income, plus possibly small amounts of investment income (interest, dividends, capital gain/loss).
- For colleges that want both parents' finances, parents are married, or single parent is widowed.
- Family is not spendthrift.
Of course, even in these situations, each college may define “need” differently, may not meet “need” even as it defines “need”, and have a different notion of student self-help (student loan and student work).