Education - yes. Subsidizing the horrendous waste at typical US colleges and universities - no. I'm not sure it's the same in Europe. Maybe your "free" univers

Education - yes. Subsidizing the horrendous waste at typical US colleges and universities - no. I'm not sure it's the same in Europe. Maybe your "free" university is more bare-bones, essential. I'm from the USA, and went to one of the "best" universities in the country, for a STEM degree. It was a huge waste of money. For my peers who paid to have communists tell them what Shakespeare means, it was an even bigger waste. Why should we subsidize something that is such a fraud? I could get the same or better education for 0-10% of the cost by taking classes online, self-study, and then paying, in a few specific/advanced cases, for hands-on experience in a lab or consultation with an expert. Outside of STEM it's even worse. I've seen students pay $5-15K for a foreign language course, when you can learn more effectively for $10-20/hour on Skype with a native speaker. I once listened to a philosophy class at one of the most expensive colleges in the USA. It was beyond parody.