It has always been fascinating to me how people can talk about ‘free education’ as if there were no costs once the government bears (i.e. distributes) the expenditures. The problem at stake seems to be a confusion of prices and costs. While costs refer to the expenses incurred to produce goods and services, prices are what consumers of those goods and services are charged. Therefore, price controls or socialization have no impact whatsoever on costs. They are just a redistribution of costs.
Thus education will never be costless despite being labeled as ‘free’. The only question involved is who ought to pay for expenses. And with reference to ‘Director’s Law‘ we have already observed the attempt to let other people pay the bill.
In a recent study, the Cato Institute has estimated costs of public schools and found them to be about as high as top-private schools. Of course without offering a similar quality of teaching.
Swiss Economist 