I’m not looking for free, Saillakeerie. I know full well how expensive “free” is.
But why state U’s have to engage in an arms race to have plush and gorgeous apartment-style dorms, food courts open until midnight, and steam rooms/weight rooms/fully outfitted Peleton facilities is beyond me. These amenities cost real money. Staff to provide services, capital expenditures, and then constant maintenance and upgrading.
I grew up in a middle class neighborhood (a hundred years ago). If your dad owned a tire store, or your single mom was a school librarian, or you had two working parents- a guidance counselor married to a police officer- you went to the public flagship unless you “won” a scholarship somewhere else. The flagship U’s dorms were basic and spartan. The food was terrible most days, OK other days. But kids got a BA/BS at a price their families could afford and then got launched.
Those families in my town cannot afford the flagship anymore. They just can’t if they have more than one child, even with two incomes. But they pay taxes to the state, and I think their ire at being priced out is justified.
I have no solution to the “uncooperatively divorced” problem, unfortunately. But our legal system is not set up to deal with kids who are 18±- who still need support of some kind, even if not college bound.