Is higher education public in America? What's with all I'm hearing about student loans then? It seems that without that, your whole argument falls apart.
The student loan problem in the US didn't exist 15 years ago. It is a big problem now, all due to the US Government perpetually backing higher loan amounts. Student loan debt has increased by about eight fold in that time. About 13% of Americans have student loans, and only about 3-4% of Americans have problematic student loans.
The median student loan debt is less than the cost of a cheap car: $13,700.
Between, say, ~1940 and 2000 the US had both the best university system on earth and it was affordable.
There are still a lot of public universities in the US that are extremely affordable to go to.
