I grew up in a system where you got into university if your marks were high enough, and the government paid for it. It's public education, after all. People who weren't university calibre had other career training opportunities. The government paid for healthcare too.

Of course you pay for it through taxes, but it's so much simpler this way.

And it basically works out fairly in the end. People who earn more due to their education will pay more in taxes, so they ultimately pay for their education after all.