One of the so called "Free college" side effects that people who are not in the system probably have never thought about, or known about, or considered, is the unintended consequences of funding the student--which is what is being done in America at the present time.  Funding the college is a much better approach--as long as it is not dependent on the number of students who enroll.

I spent twenty years as a college math prof. and here's what happens.  A student enrolls, and the college gets federal or state money to support that student.  So the college is heavily into the recruitment business for numbers of live bodies.  Every person who enrolls adds to the college's bottom line.

And in most cases, the instructor gets a pass rate for the semester.  If you pass the student, the college gets money for that student to enroll the next semester.  There is implied pressure to pass students.  "Give them a D."  Whether they attend class, do the work, learn anything--or not.  Just pass them.

And many students take the government money, enroll, and get free room and board for a semester with no accountability.  They don't go to class, and they don't intend to go to class.  But they stay on the government dole for another semester, enroll, and the college gets their state and federal dollars again.

Primary and secondary schools have parents in a student's life.  College students don't.  Nobody is there to check up on them to see what's going on--and you are forbidden by law to report grades to parents.

If we want students to get a college education, fund the college--not the student.  That way, the student who doesn't attend classes, or is flunking, can be sent home to mom and dad for further training.  And after twenty years of wondering who the students were who were supposed to be in a class I was teaching, I can unequivocally assure you that a large number of them need further training.  They enroll on government money--and never show up.