I clearly remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when Clegg did a 180 on the Lib Dem manifesto promise not to support tuition fees. They ended up in a coalition with the Tories and instead of standing on his party principals and going against the govt vote he cravenly submitted for a crumb of power.
That destroyed the only faith I had left in any viable alternative to the Tory/Labour see-saw.
If I was leaving school now, I'm not sure third level education would be a viable option for me, I'd seriously weigh up the cost/benefit, but here is the thing, apart from my degree , university was valuable "growing up space" for me, my horizons were broadened and I gained some much needed maturity during that time.
And it was by no means a free lunch, I had no tuition fees to pay, but I had rent and food ( and a few beers) to buy ( I did not qualify for a maintenance grant because I came from Ireland and hadn't lived here). I had one job in first year, my parents could afford more support then, after that it was two jobs, f/t uni and working all holidays.
This is just another example of the slow grind down for ordinary people. Wealthy people always had escape velocity, but lower down the financial spectrum a following breeze is often the only chance you have to break the mould.