Good point about free college, most people don't realize that college is not the same in Europe as it is in America, there are reasons for it being able to be free.
When I was twenty years old I enrolled at the University of Bern for Computer Science. For that I had to go to preparatory school (Gymnasium) between 15 and 19 years old. It was a harsh school. I learnt the languages French, Latin and English and I had to write essays in German. Then there was geography, math, biology, chemistry, physics, human sciences, programming. Finally there was a round of examinations. 4 hours of math, 4 hours of essay in German, 2 hours of essay in French, oral examinations, etc.
For the university I had to pay about 1000 francs, about 2000 dollars a year for tuition (the conversion rate is somewhat arbitrary because 30 years ago the conversion rate was completely different, so look at this more like a ballpark figure). I was able to pay this myself because I had some odd jobs financing myself. I could live at my parent's the first years then I moved out into an appartment sharing with friends.
This is typical for Europe: students usually are able to finance themselves.
I had no idea until just now that it was free. TIL