At my school, I once worked with an administrator who helped with the admissions process (every application is read by a minimum of two people, at least back then), and she had her hands on a lot of data, including a big set of accepted students. We looked through them and noted a couple of things: a disproportionate number were first born (like me) or only children, and no admits she looked at were from broken families. She also got a feel for that based on people asking about going to the university in her department, she hears a lot of stories, arranges and gives lots of tours, etc. Hmmm, now that I think about it I cannot remember a single student I knew who came from a broken home.

Basically, it appears that once parents divorce, at least one parent is not willing to pay what the College Board/the school expects, and that's game over.

At least as of a few years ago, that's not quite true. I went back to school at 24, and because I had earned over 50% of my own income in the past year (100% in my case) and had not been claimed as a dependent on my parents' taxes, I was considered independent.

Well the current age for independence is 24 so it may have been the same when you went.