I must disagree.

Private enterprise couldn't have created the UC System, and I'm exceedingly glad the state of California had the foresight to do so. It is silly to give UC all the credit for having "built the state into a land of prosperity and innovation," given the Defense Department dollars that poured into California from Pearl Harbor on, among other things, but it has certainly been a huge boon. May it remain so.

Tuition and fees at UC Berkeley this year are $12,864. Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo undergrads pay $8,507. Transfer to either one of those state institutions after two years at a community college and you earn a four-year degree at a cost that is higher than it might be in a world without tuition inflation, but still quite reasonable compared to the competition, and ultimately bearable for most grads, who still remain vastly better off that the Californians who never attend college.

(And these aren't just any colleges -- multiple UC campuses are excellent institutions, as are the best Cal State schools.)

Had I been able to attend UC Berkeley free in 1998, when I started college, I certainly would have, and I wouldn't be looking forward, at 33, to finally paying off my student loans soon, hopefully. I am fully in favor of helping students from poor families afford college without borrowing away their futures, especially as long as we've got this contrived ruling-class credential system, in which too many of us pretend it is legitimate to have an economy where only folks who satisfy four years of academic requirements in a classroom setting can prosper.

There are all sorts of increases in education spending I'd support for the sake of equality of opportunity. But the notion that all students should pay nothing for college is preposterous. It would've been scandalous for me to get a four-year education for free in a state with homeless people living on the streets, desperately poor immigrants working 363 days a year as day laborers, crumbling infrastructure, and a very near future with multiple cities literally going bankrupt.

Why do some progressives fail to understand that?

I share the goal of helping people to be educated for less than the going rate at many colleges today. But universal free college is a regressive subsidy advocated for by well-intentioned people who don't seem to understand that someone ultimately has to pay for university instruction.

Who?

At least portion of that cost should be borne by the person who benefits from the education for decades.