To the original post on free tuition, the Veblen(Joneses) thingies would keep status seekers away from the free schools. A profit-motive variant would have people seek out the magic 100% ride at moneyed private schools (the more it costs, the more I make on a free ride?) Later entrance to workforce isn't just for a soft job market it also pays to the frontend (or backend?) for extended retirement age and additional thimble bailing for social security. Intriguing.

Pretending all that stuff doesn't exist... What would be the proposed characteristics a STEM graduate studies bound freshman should base their undergraduate school selection upon?