Living expenses like dorms/meals are also why so many kids end up taking out student loans and have so much debt. How is that productive for society? It seems like Americans have a very weird attitude towards certain fundamental things like healthcare and education where they prefer to privatize those commodities rather than make them cheaper for all to benefit from. I think it’s bad for society for people to be putting 17 year olds into debt for degrees and then ripping people off for 20-40% of their incomes for healthcare. It would be a major stimulus for the economy if Americans paid what Europeans do for education and healthcare. I don’t understand the conservative argument at all. We get worse results for higher prices. The only people who benefit from our system are the ultra rich.