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Comment by mc3 | Hacker News Reader

They used to do this in the UK probably until the 90s but then they'd start charging "tuition fees" although to be fair I think they were standardised, so the same fees for any university, and fairly small, with support for poorer families. I think having so many people go to university is a big burden to pay for. Part of the solution is not so many people going to university.

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But that's a very short term solution. Because with low cost labor globalizing and moving out of the EU and US, you will either need more highly educated knowledge workers to be competitive or accept a bigger group in society get very low wages or unemployment.

If the workers were getting educations that were worthwhile, they wouldn't need the state to pay for them. No one cries for a doctor leaving school with $150k in loans, since their starting salary will likely be $150k.

But yeah, the grandparent is right - the US's problem is non-dischargable loans which removed back pressure on schools to control cost.

> worthwhile

Well, worthwhile for whom? Just because the student won't capture an extra $150k from his university education, doesn't mean he won't produce that or more to the rest of society.

The U.S. has competitive rates of college attainment compared to European countries, especially among older workers: https://www.oecd.org/education/France-EAG2014-Country-Note.p... (see page 2).

He did say UK so those low cost labour issues will not be a concern post them leaving the EU.

California did this as part of their master plan back in the 60s. Tuition has been around for decades but up until recently tuition was not legally allowed to be named as such. Instead there were "fees".

We’ve strayed far from that, unfortunately. UC schools have some pretty high cost of attendance for in-state students (whose parents have been paying years worth of taxes to support that school system).

Must point out that we have no tuition fees in Scotland, which is unfortunately part of the UK.

I think the entire solution is increasing the tax burden on the upper class in the US but that's just me.

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