"Poor" people still have to pay 10% (accumulated) interest on the loan (it does not matter if the interest is called 'discount') and you still leave the system with a loan of $18-30k.
If a country wants to advance technologically or academically, it should have cost-free universities like there are cost-free schools. Why do people not understand that?
I think a better solution than basically throwing fuel on the fire is to educate people about what their options are to help them make sound economic decisions, including different degree options and their value in the job market, and also about options if they choose not to go to college, since a lot of college graduates end up taking jobs they don’t need degrees for. There also needs to be a reversal in the trend of employers requiring college degrees as a form of signaling; I think evidence suggests that college admissions boards aren’t really any better at predicting student success than results from intelligence tests like the SAT. It’s going to be very politically controversial to convince people that a lot of the value associated with having a college degree is actually just in being a smart person, but I think it would make the economy hugely more efficient and save people from having to go to college just to signal their intelligence. Another big part of the solution, for those who do actually need to learn things and earn licenses, is going to be legitimizing and popularizing new forms of education made possible by technology, e.g. MOOCs, and somehow setting more efficient methods of credentialing to go with.
You still leave uni with $18-30k debt.
Have you once stopped to consider that there may not be anything close to a perfect system for lifting people out of poverty?
Perhaps a system that provides possibility that requires loads of effort to take advantage of is the best that can be done.
A country simply cannot pay for the aggregation of "necessities" that the populace dreams up.
I'm just saying that putting economic burdens on higher education is not a wise decision for a country that wants to advance technologically or academically.
With respect to who's paying what: I think the country has way enough money, the question is "just" on what do you want to spend it.