There is a need for productive people in our society in every capacity, and there should be something in place to educate those that cannot afford it (more need based aid or merit money from enormous endowments). However, I am not in favor of free college for everyone and here is why. My cousin (in law) went to school in Canada. He is 20 years younger than I, but he made his argument that America should change its tax system so that “people like you (ie me) that have already made it” can be taxed at a higher rate to supplement all students who wish to attend college. I asked him why I would want to do that, aside from it being a nice thing to do, and he replied, so kids won’t have debt when they enter the workforce. I asked him how, in that scenario, would I be assured that the kids that would receive my tax dollars would actually graduate and work? What about all the kids that go to college for six years and never graduate or flunk out because they have no skin in the game? Should I be paying for that while I am paying for my own 3 children to attend? Should I go into debt to pay for my kids because my taxes increased? He really had no answers to my questions.
I know this ^^ is a bit off topic so I will stop here. No doubt, college costs are out of control as are student debt levels. We need a fix somewhere but unconditional “free college” doesn’t seem like a good plan to me (and I am not suggesting that is what @gallentjill is saying. Mine is more of an offshoot from the quote above).