What's ironic about your statement is that there are many in the US that clamor for "free" university education for "everyone" -- citing how it's done in Europe. However, like everything, there are tradeoffs and unintended consequences that go beyond the simplistic thoughts of the politically and economically naïve. The University of California system, in my amateur opinion is extremely good. In fact, the state university systems in most US states are all of pretty good quality. I spent a bit of time living near the University of Avignon (France) and, compared to a typical American community college, I was very suprised at how deficient the French university was. In France, university is "free" but as you said, you get what you pay for. Of course, there are exceptional European universities and there are terrible American universities, but overall, American university systems seem to be much better than the equivalent in "free" university countries.