Free (1) tuition is an interesting option, but it's not the end all answer. We have basic tuition in Uruguay, and, while people don't leave university with cri

Free (1) tuition is an interesting option, but it's not the end all answer. We have basic tuition in Uruguay, and, while people don't leave university with crippling debt, we still have the problem of people spending 4 or 5 years of their lives and leaving with a worthless degree (as in, they cannot get a job in what they studied). And they do end up in debt because they have to pay for food and housing while they study. I feel very sad whenever I see a working class family breaking their backs to send their child to become an architect or a psychologist, because I know they won't be able to get a decent job (there's one architect per 400 citizens, and one in twelve in the workforce is a psychologist, they usually end up earning less than a store clerk if they don't set up a succesful practice). Another problem is the strain on infrastructure, in the Engineering faculty they only have capacity to train about 300 to 400 students but over 2000 enter each year. The solution is to have extremely hard and cruel first year courses so at least half drop out in the first year and another half in the second year (I dropped out in second year and enrolled in a private university). Another country with free university is Venezuela, and a problem I've noticed is that the quality of education is very uneven, there are graduates with titles that aren't worth the paper they're printed on. This doesn't happen in Uruguay that much because they force them to drop out (not a great solution either). (1) here in Uruguay it's not entirely free, it's deferred - graduates from the public university have to pay about half a normal salary each year from 5 years after they graduate until they retire, so it often ends up more expensive than a private university.