Nonsense, you were privileged to be the right kind of "poor", the kind of poor that the system caters to. Just because the system gave you a big hand up does not imply that it does for everyone in equal conditions. You were privileged and you don't even realize it.

There are many poor people that are never given that opportunity regardless of ability. To those people, you had an easy path.

But you had the privilege if uncommon intelligence and test taking ability. Not all privilege is money.

You're going to have to pick one between

>>> So I went to the best school I could afford. Many folks are in this boat. It's not for a lack of trying or intelligence - it's for a lack of privilege.

and

> But you had the privilege [o]f uncommon intelligence and test taking ability. Not all privilege is money.

Not really. It's not so black and white. My point is that above a certain threshold of GPA/test scores/"intelligence" college is free. If you are below that threshold college is not. For those of us that were below that threshold, for whatever reason, we had to figure out how to pay for it. Within that bucket there are people who's family can just pay for it, no matter how expensive (these are the people going to Harvard and Wharton out of pocket), and there are those who simply can't afford to pay 200k for an education because they don't have it. Those folks then choose state Schools (which I went to and are wonderful). My point is that the average graduate of Wharton has a much higher average starting salary than the average state school. Therefore tying a family's ability to pay more tuition with a graduates average salary being higher.

It's simply the way the world works. The rich get richer.

So just to be clear, you're repudiating your statement that when people can't afford to attend college, that's not for lack of intelligence on their part?

I never made such a statement. This is reductio ad absurdum. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

Sorry, where did the "reduction" occur in rephrasing "above a certain intelligence, college is free" to "if you can't afford college, you're missing some intelligence"?

The one is just the logical contrapositive of the other.

Those aren't the same thing, that's where the reduction occurred.

My statement, which is the simple reality of the world, was that top performing students who are able to prove so via grades, test scores and other admissions requirements and scholarship requirements, are able to have top tier educations paid for via scholarships and similar aid. For folks, like me, who weren't in that bucket, have a different set of opportunities and tradeoffs. Those include paying for a 200k "top tier" education if our situation affords it, or the choice I and many others make which is to go to the best state school (or other "affordable") option.

I'm not complaining, it's just how the world works. If you were to create a flow chart for college that covers any input (student), this is what it would look like.

Reducing the above to "college is free above a certain intelligence" is missing the point and focusing on a needless obsurd detail.

Too bad. Life isn’t fair. Evolution got us to where we were, and I’m glad that we have consciousness due to relentless natural selection.

I'm not complaining about it. Just recognizing it.