Keep in mind that in many European countries, even if college is free, not everyone gets to go to it. In Germany, students are heavily segmented into tracks from an early point in their academic career, and if you're not in the traditional "college" track, tough luck: it's very difficult to get moved.
Honestly I don't know whether or not that's a better system. Whether students come out with a degree or a trade, they don't come out with debt. It's trading a degree of social mobility for economic gains, but in the US you can find yourself left out of either choice.
As for cost, $40,000 is the typical private school. Absent the top tiers, there's no reason to pay that price over a public University, where tuition in most states hovers around $10k per year. And if you do 2 years of community college first and finish up at a 4 year school, you can cut the average cost per year down to something like $7k.
Part of the student debt crisis are families making poor economic choices. Choosing the massive debt of a private school, or paying and extra $12k per year to live in a dorm "for the experience". That's how you run up $100,000 in debt before you even get a job. Don't have the money without taking out loans? Stay local, commute, find friends that live on campus and crash at their rooms every once in a while. College is expensive partly because our society treats it as a right of passage rather than an educational experience.
Honestly I don't know whether or not that's a better system. Whether students come out with a degree or a trade, they don't come out with debt. It's trading a degree of social mobility for economic gains, but in the US you can find yourself left out of either choice.
As for cost, $40,000 is the typical private school. Absent the top tiers, there's no reason to pay that price over a public University, where tuition in most states hovers around $10k per year. And if you do 2 years of community college first and finish up at a 4 year school, you can cut the average cost per year down to something like $7k.
Part of the student debt crisis are families making poor economic choices. Choosing the massive debt of a private school, or paying and extra $12k per year to live in a dorm "for the experience". That's how you run up $100,000 in debt before you even get a job. Don't have the money without taking out loans? Stay local, commute, find friends that live on campus and crash at their rooms every once in a while. College is expensive partly because our society treats it as a right of passage rather than an educational experience.