How can the system help those who are disadvantaged while not indirectly encouraging people to be financially irresponsible?
I'm going to take a potentially unpopular opinion here, but I think that a public system of education shouldn't concern itself with either of those two problems, and should instead operate on the principles of: (1) providing education, (2) to everyone, (3) equally.
The current trend of tuition hikes tend to violate (2) and compensating for this by engaging in price discrimination tends to violate (3).
To achieve all goals, tuition for a public university needs to be something that a graduate from said institution can reasonably repay without an undue burden; all students should pay the same rate; any further subsidization of a particular student's tuition by the public should be based on performance or assisting students in particular disciplines; and loans should be offered to all students.
I'm going to take a potentially unpopular opinion here, but I think that a public system of education shouldn't concern itself with either of those two problems, and should instead operate on the principles of: (1) providing education, (2) to everyone, (3) equally.
The current trend of tuition hikes tend to violate (2) and compensating for this by engaging in price discrimination tends to violate (3).
To achieve all goals, tuition for a public university needs to be something that a graduate from said institution can reasonably repay without an undue burden; all students should pay the same rate; any further subsidization of a particular student's tuition by the public should be based on performance or assisting students in particular disciplines; and loans should be offered to all students.