There was a time in the United States when public university was virtually tuition free. Where the federal and state governments funded public universities and considered accessible higher education to be a state asset. But like many other things in the United States, a major political shift changed that dramatically. And if I’ve learned anything in my time as a public policy researcher, if something in America is going really wrong, it’s always a safe bet to blame Ronald Reagan.
As part of a raft of budget cuts he started as governor and continued as president, Reagan gutted the public university system in the United States, all because he disagreed with the aims of student protestors and felt that students who paid their own way would be more likely to fall in line.
