[giantg2]

I don't know. It's not hard at all to get a loan, which is in part why tuitions have ballooned over the past few decades (faster than inflation).

I wouldn't expect lowering tuition to increase the overall number of college students significantly. What it would do is make it more attractive to go to a specific school as they should be competing on price and other factors (not at the upper echelon though).

One other area, which may be smaller, is the ability to earn more. It's possible that college no longer looks as attractive if you can get technical jobs that are paying well (recent labor shortages). At least from my experience it seems more young people have a negative view of the cost of college vs what they actually make after graduation. They might be looking at the higher non-college wages as changing the opportunity cost equation for them.