[suddenclarity]

"free". Not only do you have to pay tax but you also need to finance you living and studies during the years you're studying. Finally, forcing people to miss three years of work to get a worthless degree has a massive alternative cost.

[bombolo]

> you also need to finance you living

Not really, you can get loans with very low interest rates and you don't have to pay them back until you make a high enough salary.

But yeah it's not perfect (still better than the USA system).

I'd rather leave my kids to people that are educated rather than to people who are improvising and will never become experienced because they will change jobs ASAP because they aren't paid enough.

[suddenclarity]

Possibly a language mistake from my side. I'm not talking about the interest rate but rather that studying comes with costs. You need to buy books, computer, transportation, rent, etc. So regardless of who actually pays the tuition, you have numerous costs while also missing several years of work which is bad for society and your retirement.

I don't see a conflict between having a decent salary and not having a university education. I wrote a paper at university showing that a majority of all university degrees in my country doesn't pay itself. You miss out on too much money and experience during the years you are studying. There are exceptions, naturally, but I don't believe everyone should need a university degree.

[watwut]

Yes everyone knows it is paid from taxes. It is not gotcha you think it is. This is what the comment reacted to:

> Requiring degrees is anti-worker because it places a cost on them.

Education being paid from taxes means the price is not paid by worker. I am ok paying tax and education being paid from the tax. Not everyone is full on allergic to the word tax.

[barry-cotter]

Even if it doesn’t cost any money it still costs time. Most people don’t much like education though the proportion and degree decreases as the level rises and those who truly hate it get to escape. One sixth of high school students report being bored in every class, every day.

[suddenclarity]

It's not an attempt at a gotcha. Making that assumptions probably tells more about you than the comment. I pointed out that "free" studies have numerous costs involved regardless of what you call it. The alternative cost being the major one.

[watwut]

It is free at the point of use. Just like firefighters are free when you call on fire or cops are free when you call them cause someone parks at your place. Or just like highways are called "free" when you don't have to pay for using some section of it.

Somehow the taxes pay for it thing never comes up with these.