This would save young Americans from going into crippling debt, but it would also make a university degree completely unaffordable for most. However, in the age of the Internet, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t get an education.
Consider the long term impact of this. There are a lot of different ways such a situation could go, for better and for worse.
The benchmarks have to be weighted in order for this system to be fair across income levels. Also, making college free benefits well-off students more than poorer students. So many public schools offer full rides for low-income students, especially if they are first-generation students.
I was low income. This idea that the poor have enough aid is so divorced from reality.
How long ago were you in college? From my friends’ experiences, the lower income ones have had a really easy getting their educational expenses covered through grants and first-gen scholarships offered by my university. This does ignore living expenses, but strictly from a university perspective, they get more money than they pay.