There was a time not so long ago that if you had the grades for it, there were options for state-run colleges where tuition was completely free. Together with the GI bill for WW2 veterans, it created an age in America where we had the highest proportion of technical training in the workforce, and it's no coincidence that our country's strongest and most famous industrial boom happened during this time.
So who took those free colleges off the table? Who insisted that one way or another, higher education MUST have an up front price tag for people who have not yet begun their careers?