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<p>The likely result would be to return to the days when higher educational attainment was was more of a confirmation of inherited socioeconomic class and status, rather than an indicator of some type of intellectual merit and achievement. (Both were then and are now part of the equation, but the former was a larger factor decades ago than now.)</p>
<p>Such a situation would likely result in ■■■■■■■■ economic growth, or even economic contraction, as significant amounts of intellectual talent would be wasted due to being born into the “wrong” (i.e. non-wealthy) families who cannot afford even the cost of a state university today. In other words, this would reverse the economic gains starting in the 1950s when the GI Bill and the expansion of inexpensive state universities (which were much less expensive than they are now, after adjusting for inflation) made it possible for many more who had the intellectual ability and motivation to attend college and thus upgrade their economic productivity over their working lives.</p>