Part of the problem with the free college issue is that the extra time spent in full-time education is not free. It's another 3 or more years of not earning a

Part of the problem with the free college issue is that the extra time spent in full-time education is not free. It's another 3 or more years of not earning a proper full time wage. It's also (in my country) a time when you are explicitly not eligible for those benefits available to the unemployed. When you reach school leaving age, you have a choice, start full time paid work now (with the social safety net if you can't find work), or spend at least 3 more years of full time education without that safety net, doing part time work when you can, possibly taking loans, all in the hope that you'll get a much better paid job at the end of it (which, nowadays, is not a given). It also isn't just a case of poor kids with good potential not having the money to pay for higher education, but also of poor kids with good potential not having the grades to get into higher education. Home factors (sleep, nutrition, reading at home, stress, extracurricular activities, peer pressure from the wrong crowd) make a significant difference to education outcomes in children. Universal healthcare, on the other hand, is truly about equal opportunity for all. Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune, the cost of which should be shared by the community. No society can legitimately call itself civilized if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.