That system sounds similar to the one proposed in the article, with a few differences in the way the incentives are structured: 1. If there's a single tax for

That system sounds similar to the one proposed in the article, with a few differences in the way the incentives are structured: 1. If there's a single tax for everybody, then there's no incentive for this education monopoly to improve learning-per-dollar. Or per peso, I suppose, this being Uruguay. 2. As you mention, the lack of coverage for living costs is a problem. This disproportionately puts poorer families at a disadvantage. In a for-profit system, this is an obvious opportunity for an investor to get those students by offering a better deal. 3. If it applies to everybody who goes to college, then people from families wealthy enough to pay for college out of their pockets can't opt out of the tax. This would tend to subsidize poorer students. (I'm not unhappy about this last part.)