To be fair, there are plenty of state universities in the US that are considerably cheaper than private schools. Students entering college are generally making two bad decisions:

1. Selecting a very expensive, non-prestigious private school.

2. Selecting a major that has no ROI for the cost of tuition.

To give concrete examples:

Option 1.

   4 years at U of Texas at Austin.

      Tuition = $40k.

Option 2.

   2 Years at Tarrant County College.

   2 years at U of Texas at Austin.

      Tuition = $24k.

Option 3.

   4 years at Southern Methodist University.

      Tuition = $250k.

So a student could spend $24k versus $250k, and I would imagine most would consider the UT Austin degree more valuable, as well, though these two schools are ranked similarly for undergraduate.

And, while I would support further taxes to support state schools, I have no desire to support students who are personally selecting to attend a school that will cost 10x just because they want to. And I have no desire to forgive their loans, either.