Kind of doubt that story, honestly. Consumer debt does not seem to elicit ANY sympathy from colleges. But I bet all the parents filled out the forms, too, if the kid did get aid. And it is possible that all parents were not working, had low income (not all attorneys make a lot!), they had not saved anything, had high medical bills you don’t know about, etc… Colleges know that some divorced families have “played” them in the past when the NCP parent had a lot of assets and didn’t want to pay. They have rules about this for a reason, there have been past abuses.
Plus… tuition is not $60K. He may have gotten half tuition, but that is not going to be half off the total cost ($60K includes room & board).