Very few students will pay that price. Even those above financial aid thresholds will typically be offered a ~~sale price~~ merit scholarship. Also, if they have other offers they can try and price match. The sticker price is so high because it feels nice to get something for 50% off. Much more so if it was due to your "merit" rather than your coupon clipping prowess.
College tuition is expensive, much more than it should be, but the obsession over a sticker price that is almost never relevant is silly. People should be more concerned about the actual cost of attendance.
What's the way back out? Finding a way for the US to stop producing (at a meta-level) highly inflated, price-inelastic markets backed up by powerful bureaucracies (following Pournelle's law) and somehow soft-landing the existing ones without throwing out the value they definitely provide seems like a big challenge going forward.
College tuition is expensive, much more than it should be, but the obsession over a sticker price that is almost never relevant is silly. People should be more concerned about the actual cost of attendance.