It's not just tuition fees. Consider that cities with top-league universities also have deep links with industry. Oxford and Cambridge —as examples I'm familia

It's not just tuition fees. Consider that cities with top-league universities also have deep links with industry. Oxford and Cambridge —as examples I'm familiar with— both have off-site science parks, secondary research centres. Many tech companies host labs there and operate PhD programmes that link in with the universities. That has driven the growth of these cities for a century. All because these universities have the best and brightest. Take away those, and I can only imagine the business support will dwindle.