Honestly, those endowments are part of why some schools like my alma mater are able to offer a no-loan commitment for need-based aid. Now, those calculations are still awfully rough on many middle class families, they tend to overestimate family contributions, but they're still really helpful for a lot of students.
that's a tried-and-true sales trick--inflate the price and then offer a discount. calibrate your discount to extract maximum economic value from each customer individually.
it's best if schools have to compete on price vs. value, and for students to leave school with a little debt to know the value of what they bought. it's when both price and debt are unconstrained that you need such tricks in the first place.
Relatively few people can go to a school with endowment subsidized tuition. The ivys only started doing it because it looked bad for them to be sitting on piles of money and only allowing wealthy elites to attend.
