US students drowning in tuition debt

[rug]

8. I remember when all the schools that belonged to the City University of New York were tuition-free.

I remember all the chaos that ensued when CUNY began charging tuition.

The first thing I would do is look at that system (I think there were other state or city universities that charged no tuition) and see how they did it. CUNY was an outstanding system. Obviously they were able to do it for decades. I expect it was supported primarily by taxes. Clearly a political decision was made that this was an important public good that required significant public financial support.

The next thing I would do is see what kind of value shifting occurred that ended up in charging tuition. History is a guide.

So, short answer, publicly fund all state universities so they are tuition-free. Screw the rightwing howling. Be prepared to answer their outcries with a strong political response. The private schools, to compete, had better then either offer something dramatically different to entice students or lower their fees.