1 in 20 applicants is only the top 5%. Being in the top 5% income earners in the country is not a high enough bar to shell out $50k a year extra post tax to pay a child’s tuition.
Harvard draws from all over the world and many US upper-middle class parents/grandparents are willing to save for 20 years or use HELOCs; they don’t have to pay out of current income. Upper class can just pay for it (there are well over 1M households in the US alone with a net worth over $10M; those people would barely notice putting little Chris through Harvard).
If student loans were entirely outlawed, Harvard wouldn’t need to lower its prices; it would just end up not having poor people attending.
Why would a student not want to work part time to have a little income? I found it beneficial.
State schools and schools with high admission percentages might get cheaper in tuition, but it’s still going to be expensive to live and eat for 4 years with no income coming in for most of the year.