The student upthread wasn’t talking about dream schools, she was talking about how unfair it is that “lower income” kids will be able to go away to the same college as she will for less money than her family will have to pay. In most cases, Pell eligible kids aren’t getting enough aid to be able to dorm at the schools that the students who aren’t Pell eligible are attending. Many of them never dorm at all. They attend a cc and/or commute to a local state school.
It’s unfortunate Jolealea’s parents weren’t able to save anything for her to go to college, but it’s a waste of energy to compare what aid she’ll get to what a lower income student will get. A student who gets the full Pell grant is coming from a family that earns ~$26k/year or more less than Jolealea’s family. If her family wasn’t able to save anything for college out of past income and will struggle to pay $9k/year out of the current $76k income, where does she imagine the families earning $45k or less are going to come up with the ~$12k (or more) they’ll need after the Pell grant and federal student loan are applied? Taking away their aid and only permitting them fee waivers will have zero net effect on her.