Well, part of it is just the sheer scale of US education institutions. If we define University students as everyone enrolled and seeking a Bachelor's or higher

Well, part of it is just the sheer scale of US education institutions. If we define University students as everyone enrolled and seeking a Bachelor's or higher then the number of University students in the US is greater than the total number University students in all of Europe. Also about 70% of high school graduates in the US go on to at least attempt a Bachelor's according to the NCES where as in Germany, for instance, only about 30% do. Germany has the highest number of University students of any EU member nation. On top of all this, a typical American university education is more expensive than its European counterpart. So to start providing this education at no personal cost we would have to come up with a rather large sum of money that is not currently being allocated. Roughly on par with the total educational costs of Europe. What do you cut or where do you raise taxes to make that allotment? It would be a huge readjustment.