If their parents are uncooperatively divorced, then only a few of the elite colleges could possibly be affordable, since most of them require both parents to cooperate with financial aid forms and paying.
But also, the reality is that the elite colleges admit classes of student heavily skewed toward the top end of family income and wealth, so relatively few of those from the families of modest or no means actually get admitted and are able to make use of their financial aid.
Agree that many states are failing to have their state universities provide educational opportunity for state residents from all family SES levels. Student loan debt by state can be compared at https://ticas.org/interactive-map/ to give an idea of how different states compare on this matter. NH, PA, CT, and RI have the highest average student debt, while UT, NM, NV, and CA have the lowest average student debt.