Your asking the wrong questions! Why the heck do so many people want the goverment and by extension "all tax payers" to get free this or that? Health care and education are by faf the most common things mentioned.
The question you should be asking yourself is why is it so expensive to begin with? If you plot tuition costs it really has sky rocketed (similar to disney ticket prices)
So you want tax payers to pay for the 80k education instead of wondering why its 80k in the first place?
Theres lots of factors but two big ones are.
1. The push for everyone to go to college even if they dont belong there. (This drives up attendance and demand) and well you know supply and demand things. (Schools need to keep growing) (limited slots mean they can ask for more sweet cash from daddy...or your 10 years of debt)
2. The ease and accessibility of student loans...this feeds directly into point one. Its the same economic theory that says if you hand out credit cards....credit card debt will increase. Schools know tjey can charge whatever because by and large you can get loans for whatever. (Thank you goverment!) So we have more college educated people than ever before (this is also why minimum requirements are skyrocketing for careers) BUT it costs more than ever before. If hypothetically lets just throw something at the wall...you could only finance 25% of your tuition on a studen loan and the rest would have to come from else where....i would bet a paycheck costs of tuition would start to tick down...now technically so wouldn't college enrollment period but alas going to college shouldn't dictate ones success in life....your character and moral compass and work ethic should.