Once upon a time, there were tuition fees in some counties in Germany and it was a huge debate and I can remember a lot of demonstrations until the fees were abandoned - yearly fees of about 1300 $. And in the US so many people pay the tenfold or even hundredfold amount per year! Most students start borrowing money on student loans so that after four years of undergraduate studies you've already collected a lot of debts to pay back. But imagine, you've started studying for some time and realize you are not going to make it or something happens and you don't graduate - there's still this huge amount of money left. As far as I got it, that will cause a different pressure on you to finally graduate. (Unlike in Germany where you "just" can skip or switch the subject - one year or even more does not matter too much.)
However, there's of course a movement against the fees, called the "Million Student March" - and again against this movements there are the really conservative voices, e.g.
Why I stand against the Million Student March
It's really fun to read ;)
