Almost totally agree with you. WHICH degrees are also a factor. How many degrees in underwater basket weaving should the government be subsidizing? I bet that

Almost totally agree with you. WHICH degrees are also a factor. How many degrees in underwater basket weaving should the government be subsidizing? I bet that making education 'free' will increase the unit cost per student per semester (total cost per year / number of students) and dramatically increase it per degree. University costs in the US have been increasing rapidly at a rate far higher than inflation already. Some people argue that this is due to the high availability of student loans decreasing the pressure on universities to keep costs and tuition low. This comes from the camp that believes that sticking kids with six digit debts right out of school is bad, unnecessary, AND that universities are needlessly wasteful. Eliminating the cost to the student entirely doesn't seem like the answer to me either due to decreased incentive for students to pass their classes and decreased pressure to drive down costs at the university. I believe 'free' university education will ultimately lead to even larger unit cost per student per semester and far greater cost per degree. I tend to prefer solutions that leverage market forces. What do you think?