The education is not free. It's being paid for by taxpayers. I don't think it's unreasonable for a middle or upper class family to incur some cost for their children education. Take a look at the huge national debt, this is at least partly caused by entitlements.

Couldn't you consider "Life in prison without the possibility of parole" the equivalent of an execution? Time is a foolproof method of killing someone. I'm not sure it's any less barbaric.