Hear me out… Let's put aside the fact that UG tuition fees is just a massive debt trap. It's the pathway to a spiral that people are usually stuck in for most of their lives.
But, why are we calling for free tuition/state-sponsored tuition? Capitalism has changed the reasons people go to Universities. Through centuries of brain washing, we're taught that a university degree is a gateway to a good career, and being “successful”. Doesn't free tuition simply add to that narrative that an education is the means of getting a career? Doesn't free tuition simply shift the burden of payment from the individual to the state, while the reasons and benefits of both are in favour of capitalism?
What's the solution? Well, when the first European University was set up in Bologna during the 11th century, only 3 subjects were taught. A university education was seen as a mark of social standing. We're past that now, with a university education within the reach of more humans than ever in humanity even as the glorious “free market” has successfully created this competition between graduates. The solution is to bring back a university education as a lifestyle choice. Ensure that jobs are based on skill levels that can be learnt through doing rather than studying. Don't work to be able to afford an education, study so that you can get away from work. We need to start looking at education as something that people get to do to learn more about the world and about themselves, like travel is considered by many today. Work, on the other hand, should be something that we do simply to be able to study (as defined above).
Happy to hear your thoughts!