Making college ‘free’ will only make it worse

I think that, when you make things free, people just take them for granted and don’t value them. For example, look at the public school system in the US. In my school, half of the students don’t try in the slightest to learn. I believe that the studious students should attend college, then the rest go into the workforce to do jobs and boost the economy. Also, the government should do less for students, as their student loan programs encourage people to take on unsurmountable debt, leading colleges to continuously make tuition more expensive. That money should be used for better purposes.