If you think that you cannot beat them, you can join them by changing to a much lower paying job and giving away all of your money and assets to your favorite charities two years before your kid starts college. Then you can be poor for college financial aid purposes.
As a practical matter, most students from poor families, if they go to college at all, are highly constrained by cost limitations (often limited to commuting to the cheapest local college), since relatively few colleges have need-based financial aid that gives full rides including residential living expenses. Few students from poor families get admitted to those few colleges that do offer that much financial aid.