The other day there was a post here by a single mother who had studied for her masters in something or other. She said she had never intended going to work, & earning to repay her HEX fees.

Perhaps an upfront charge will prevent those people from wasting others hard earned money on private study. Perhaps we will value education more if we pay for it ourselves.

An example of valuing it comes from my time in New Guinea.

If a village wanted a school, first they had to build a school house. That done, they had then to build a satisfactory house, [of the village type, not European], for the teacher & family.

Only after this was done would the government allocate a teacher to the village

An example of valuing it comes from my time in New Guinea.

Hasbeen,
Just down the road they build a brand new school for 33 million Dollars which blew out to 42 million, put in a new road, provide two school buses, all for a bout 70 kids on the island.
Teachers living away allowances add up to about 700 Dollars a week on top of their salary & the kids are now five times less competent than their grandparents.
Then you have all the support teachers fly in-out every two or so weeks plus this plus that etc.
When the other school was vandalised to the tune of several hundred thousand Dollars, nothing was ever said about the culprits afer they got caught.
Most high school kids then get sent South to boarding school, flown home for every school holiday plus $25/day pocket money although officially it's called attendance incentive.
Different values of education & more Dollars involved.

Dear Hasbeen,

<<She said she had never intended going to work, & earning to repay her HEX fees.>>

If you want to avoid repaying your debt, then there's a 'better' way to never pay: have a member of your family start a company, have the educated member be 'employed' at minimum-wage by that company and have the professional services of that company be contracted instead to would-be employers, for much more of course.

Recovering the debt from a dead student's estate helps against this type of fraud. Another way is to require guarantees or guarantors who agree to pay the debt if the former student fails to pay it back say within 15 years (such guarantors could also be corporate, as potential employers, or even the university itself in the case of outstandingly promising students).

My son is joining the defense forces next month to get his degree free but I am embarrassed to say mine was free at his age without service. Maybe we can have more community service from the young in a scheme that would give them free education for each year spent assisting others.

mine was free at his age without service
Boomer,
it clearly reflects in your mentality. Nothing should be free apart from life itself & the air we breathe & the water we drink. Everything else we are morally obliged to put in an effort for.
If we want something sooner than we can pay for it then we can take out loans & repay them in time. Education is no different. No-one on the public purse should earn more than 12-15 times the average wage. We'd be surprised by how much we could reduce tax & how much our daily life would improve. Education organisations in particular have to be made accountable. To give corruption something to think about we should have corruption officers on the payroll.

...An engineering degree, the degree my father did for free, will cost as much as $119,000.

Allison, Welfare has been a drain on society for decades, your fathers education being one such drain, although at the time, it was not considered as such.

So, your dad did his degree for nothing, yet was rewarded with what in today's standards would be a half million plus per year salary, for ZERO.

Do you honestly think those on modest wages, who also pay taxes, can continue to be expected to contribute to ones FREE education, so they can go on to be a multi millionaire.

Sorry, but I don't see a debt of $120K being a huge ask when that debt can result in mid to high five figure salaries that can continue for decades and, be repaid over years interest free. Remembering that that $25,000 salary is now more like $400,000+.

Please tell me you don't expect people to get a $400K job for ZERO.

Furthermore, My understanding is that the debt is not repayable until one secures a salary of $55K+.