You can barely pay what it takes to just exist on a minimum wage full time job these days. I wouldn't expect tuition to ever drop to the point where people can get through college on summer jobs or part time work without a serious shift in the labor market.
Is this better or worse than the credential treadmill and a lifetime servicing debt? At least when college was cheap in the 70s, you could pay for it with a summer job and part time work during school.
> more aggressive about weeding out people who are not cut out for school
This would never happen.