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Why not? What’s the point of the state paying for higher education? I’d say encouraging social mobility and making more people into high value creators.

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It's not very egalitarian to let wealthy private institutions be the gate keepers of social mobility. I don't believe we're talking about 'education' here, rather we're talking about status signaling.

I'm 100% for free higher education paid by the state. I'm 100% against the current college and school system.

China does the opposite. To get access to government jobs (which include essentially all middle management and up positions in the private sector), there's an exam, the "Gaokao" ... administered by the government.

It is absolutely infamous for the amount of fraud and corruption, as well as how far government employees will go to force their kids through the exam. In both senses - preparation, cheating, outright fraud.

Fraud horror stories: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53316895

Preparation horror stories: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/magazine/inside-a-chinese...

Cheating horror stories: https://time.com/4360968/china-gaokao-examination-university...

Having 5 different options in the private sector + a fallback (the state universities) seems a very desirable outcome compared to that, I must say.

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