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Re:65k fake students applied for financial aid in wide commu... by betwixthewires on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @09:55PM (#28387874)
> Only a single payer system has the leverage to force the universities to decouple their cruft from their core educational expenses

That's a pretty steadfast assertion. It's untrue, and we know that because higher education used to be affordable without a single payer system.

> The irony is we essentially already have this single payer system.

I'm not sure this is ironic so much as symptomatic. Blank checks lead to waste. Students on the hook for blank checks lead to what we have now.

> why not just make it free, then?

I can think of a couple of reasons. Nothing is free in this world, for one, and beyond that, I don't want to live in a world where I have to spend another 4 years of my life in school just to get a job because it's free and therefore expected of everyone. Those are pretty big reasons why not.

Re:65k fake students applied for financial aid in wide commu... by mullingitover on Wednesday September 01, 2021 @10:27PM (#28388060)
> It's untrue, and we know that because higher education used to be affordable without a single payer system.

We don't know that it would've been affordable without public financing, but I would wager we'd be in the same boat now but with college entirely out of reach for most, instead of merely expensive.

> Nothing is free in this world, for one

Except college in at least six countries[1]

> I don't want to live in a world where I have to spend another 4 years of my life in school just to get a job because it's free and therefore expected of everyone

You don't have to do this. The world still needs field hands and other unskilled labor, and there are still skilled trades that pay quite well.

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/08061...