"if the country is lucky, universities will collapse..." Back to what ... Halls of Ivy for the privileged?
A look at the history of science shows that NOT ALL 19th-century science discoveries were made by people who had the privileged leisure-time to do so. Drive and self-education are important ... but so is opportunity ... EVEN for geniuses.
Take a look at the shit-ton of *extremely important* discoveries made by (highly motivated and highly poor and uneducated) Michael Faraday. Ever heard the name? When he was 14, he was apprenticed to a bookbinder for seven years.
"My education was of the most ordinary description, consisting of little more than the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic at a common day school. My hours out of school were passed at home and in the streets. "
Then he got lucky: he was hired by chemist Humphry Davy (Davy started out as a poet and painter, then was hired as a lab assistant). Davy accidently blinded himself for a time, and needed a lab assistant. Apart from that luck, what would either of them have discovered while working 12-hour days 6 days a week?
We -were- wasting A LOT of talent before colleges opened themselves up to everyman. College -was much more- affordable in the mid-20th century. The benefits *to us all* have been remarkable (even if 'only' 25% took advantage of the chance, even if we're not aware of them). And now ... we're going back there, so fuck it?