Your comment perfectly illustrates the chasm between the US and UK mindsets on this issue. Personally, I’m thrilled my tax money goes to support the best and brightest who lack rich parents, who will in all likelihood go on to make outstanding contributions to society that aren’t always necessarily measured in monetary terms, even if they wind up unable to pay off their student loans. I’d much rather my tax money was spent that way than on a bottomless pit military industrial complex.