havesomeseichel,
You are right that out-of-town schools can have very high tuition. I lived in a small community in central-US; in the local cheder, over half of the students were the children of klei kodesh (Rabbaim & Kollel members) & paid very little or no tuition. About 25% of the children paid full-tuition with little difficulty. The remaining 20% struggled to pay full- or 90% tuition; some took out federal loans & second mortgages to do so, besides amassing significant credit card debt. Because the school was already giving large breaks to the klei kodesh, they could not afford to give any breaks to the “working middle class”.