re: That raises an interesting hypothetical:
It would be interesting to see if conservatives also opposed public funding of education when the concept was first proposed. I'd be willing to bet the same end-of-the-world arguments were thrown out to prove how civilization could not survive allowing the chilrdren of the poor to learn to read.
Of course, all education has always been at least partially subsidized by the state. But by charging tuition, it was ensured that only those social classes that could afford the price of admission would be educated.