are two different things - and yes, affordable is relative to the person paying - you will never get everyone to agree what is affordable. Acceptance at college is also a big issue. Most good schools already turn away large numbers of "qualified" applicants - they don't have room for them. If taxes are paying for all to go to college, how do you fairly determine which of these qualified people get in?

There will always be class struggles no matter the overall education levels of a society - no one wants to be at the bottom - regardless of how good that may be relative to the world and history. The POSSIBILITY of moving up is what drives a capitalistic society.

The "free education for all" mantra, I hope, is just headline grabbing sound bites. Nothing is free. Making education and thus class mobility easier is a good goal. We hear how crushing the amount of student debt is - and it is a problem, but can we add that crushing amount of debt, plus whatever it would take to make it free for all, to the nation's debt without consequences?

Don't want to go much further, treading on TOS, and you made some good points in a rational way, particularly which majors are acceptable - too many of the free education for all crowd are also part of the crowd that thinks ____ Studies is a major worth investing in - for some it may be a very interesting subject to study - more power to them; but if it is not something you can make a living using, don't know that the country needs to invest in it for you to study just because you find it interesting.

Also would like to see more people looking to the future - and not just their own. The demographics of successful families (call it privilege if you want, and yes later generations are lucky to be born into it - but it likely started with hard work) usually include success in steps. You got some community college, you get your kids through a four year degree and your grandkids get the advanced degree - pretty soon the family is successful. Today people often spend more time complaining it's not fair for them personally than they do working to take that next step.

Oh - and get off my lawn.