Well, the tax/finaid structures here also place the decision in the hands of each individual, they just tilt the incentives.<p>I'm very much in favor of finaid working the way it does, because it also opens up the possibility of bright children from backgrounds who <i>simply would not be able to afford it</i> going to elite colleges.  That's supposed to be the point of education - level the playing field, so that even if you're born to garment-worker immigrants, you can make it big in your own lifetime.  If it means that middle class families have some skewed incentives, I don't care.<p>I'm less sure about the tax issues.  I'd like to see the tax code simplified in general, if only because tax preparation is so inefficient now.  And I think disincentives in tax rates may cause more harm than the revenue collected from them does good.