Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

(CNSNews.com) – Free college tuition is “a great goal except it’s really expensive,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said at a town hall meeting in Fulton, Mo. last week. “We can’t just start having the government pay for everything.”

“We owe a lot of debt,” McCaskill also said. “And if we’re not careful, we’re going to get so far under that we could be Greece.”

“Free college tuition is a great goal except it’s really expensive. It’s really expensive and we are struggling with how we’re going to pay for what we have in place right now in terms of Medicare,” McCaskill said.

“We have a demographic bubble that is moving into the system and we have interest rates going up and we owe a lot of debt. And if we’re not careful, we’re going to get so far under that we could be Greece.”

“So while I’m a very big supporter of Medicare and a very big supporter of for example expanding Medicaid in Missouri – it’s inane that has not been expanded in Missouri – I also want to be mindful of the fact that we can’t just start having the government pay for everything,” she continued.

“When people talk about that and they point out countries where that happens, people are paying 70 percent of their income in taxes in those countries.”