The original mission of aid has been overrun to the point of being self-defeating. Higher ed is an inflated, bloated mess with a steep opportunity cost measured in time, money, and mindset. There are drawbacks to the narrow white-collar expectations and self-sabotaging ideologies (ie degrowth, critical theory). Why not a sensible in-between?

Aid should be merit-based. Both statistically and in my experience growing up at average and poor public schools <5% of the population is gifted and talented at the level where going to college would be a value gain for both them and society. Giving ~50% of youth a perverse incentive towards higher ed is obviously turning out to be destructive for both them and the institutions.

If you think that stating that you should not go to a college that you can't afford is "beyond the typical level of unhinged," you must be from a very sheltered corner of the internet. It strikes me as a very common sense and mainstream opinion indeed.