I too thought it a bit confusing regarding the title and the quotes. All in all I thought it was a ‘meh’ article. Like someone mentioned I’m sure some of the extremes are just exaggerations and stereotypes to make a point. I do like the point that we as adults need to take some of the pressures of college admissions off our children where possible so they can enjoy their childhood. I’m not going to deny my somewhat obsession with the process for a myriad of reasons but I wouldn’t be on a site like this almost every day if I wasn’t somewhat obsessed.
“… I think it’s fair to assume that ability to pay matters.”
It may matter to schools, but it should be irrelevant to applicants if a school is need aware or need blind. It doesn’t affect how much you like a school, it affects only the chances of admission. If you like the school, apply! Meeting full need can be the critical issue.
The process has grown so complicated that the parents and the students think that they need to be on top of the things ALL the time. Such mindset causes many behavioral patterns described in the articles even from otherwise rational people. The parents can’t be unilaterally blamed IMHO.
PS: I don’t endorse irrational stand taken by anyone. I feel this side needs some solutions too.
Yes, the college process has grown too complicated, even for the well-informed. D had already begun to plan out her Common Application college essay so as to be on top of things, when lo and behold, we learn that all but one of her favorite schools has joined a Coalition that will be launching its own application for the college class of 2021. For some of the schools, apparently, it will be the only application accepted next year. This, in addition to them being the guinea pigs for the new PSAT, new SAT, new APUSH exam, etc. etc.
PS. The high school guidance department has no clue about it either.
D2 found a strategy that lightened the load, that might work for some. After watching D1 struggle with way too many applications, D2 applied EA to her match #2 choice and was accepted. She then had only one more app to write to her #1 reach choice.
That works if your kid gets into their EA, and has a solid list of matches & safeties in case they need it (and getting that list together is an awful lot of the work). But you wouldn’t want to get caught without that work done and then be scrambling to identify schools, collect info for the applications, etc. if they did not get in. Plus, in today’s environment a lot of families need to compare aid offers. So they can’t really take that approach.
I did say “might work for some.” It worked marvelously for her. 
@TheGFG the “coalition” schools are not dropping the common app. They claim to not even give preference to the coalition app.
Several good points in this article were overshadowed for me by parent bashing by people who could be doing more to prevent the problems they are complaining about.
I think a lot of parents these days are blindsided by how complex and competitive college application has become (I know I was). What do we have to go on if not our own experiences 20+ years ago? It is incorrect—but not irrational—to think that your kid, who is smarter than you were and works harder than you did could get into the same schools you did.
If the people quoted are guidance counselors, I hope they provide families early on (in 9th grade or earlier if possible) with information about the current competitive landscape, and some realistic advice about financial aid. (No one told us any of this and we had to figure it out for ourselves after visiting a bunch of colleges and inadvertently setting unrealistic expectations).
If they are admissions counselors, they should convince their institutions to stop sending recruitment mail to students who are unlikely to be accepted (I know admissions and marketing are separate departments, but colleges can’t just sit back and blame parents for how out-of-hand things have gotten).
I do like the suggestion of a 2:1 ratio of non-college to college conversation topics, though!