The connection is that as subsidies have dropped, fees have skyrocketed. When I was in school the tuition was $3500/yr. and I was in one of the most expensive

The connection is that as subsidies have dropped, fees have skyrocketed. When I was in school the tuition was $3500/yr. and I was in one of the most expensive programs in the whole university. I knew people in other programs paying as little as $2000/yr. Foreign students, who didn't receive any subsidies, paid about $19,000 for the same thing. That was the kind of money you could easily make over the summer even at a mundane job if you were careful about saving. Now for a basic arts degree get ready to fork out $10,000 or more. Some CS people are paying $16K a year. I'm not sure how you'd come up with that kind of scratch except with a student loan. Education is not something that should be driven by demand pricing. Of course there's demand for education, society demands it, and as such, society should help offset the costs. Would you rather live in a place where half the people had a university education or where half the people had barely finished high school?