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<p>Maybe not “easily”. It’s possible, but that sounds like an awfully low EFC for that income.</p>
<p>Going back to the original question about how tippy-top colleges offer a free education to families in the 60-80k range: that’s because those schools can afford to do so. I wouldn’t use those schools’ cutoffs for full aid as a definition of “middle class” or “poor”. The tippiest of the top offer incredibly generous FA up to (in some cases) family incomes nearing $200k. Again, just because COA at, say, Princeton for a family with income of $150k is $15k a year doesn’t mean that family is middle class (though they may certainly feel like they are :))</p>