Free College Degree for US

[cookderosa]

I can't help but bring this question to the table: is there any possibility that "free college" would devalue the college degree both to the degree pursuer and/or the employer?

To be clear, we're talking about associate degrees, not bachelors/masters. I think even if all education was 100% free for any degree, there would still only be a % of people who pursue it. As for the associates- I think it becomes highschool 2.0
Whenever the floor is raised, everything else adjusts naturally.
You see this is TONS of fields. Any field with an AAS or AOS degree, if you go back 50 years, was probably an apprenticeship or on the job training career. Having an AAS/AOS is now a minimum in many of those fields for more than entry level (or sometimes for entry level) and not because the skills are now all of a sudden required to work the job, but because it's normed into the field and "everyone" has the training. I think making vocational/career/technical schools into academic degrees has been a setback, but again, another soap box of mine I'll stay off of.