This is a HeadGum Podcast. I don't know what to think

I don't know what to say

and the dance of my

yeah it's okay

I don't know.

Hey, hey, I don't know.

Hey, everybody, welcome to Factually.

I'm Adam Conover, and, uh, hey, you might have noticed there's an election going on right now.

We've got one of those happening again right on schedule and in the election there's a debate

going on in the Democratic primary about whether or not college should be free and if so for who or

whom depending on how grammatical you want to be now to some people free public college

sounds like a radical idea.

I mean, college is more expensive than ever.

So the idea that it should be free instead seems like an out-there fantasy,

like a hobo dreaming about the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

But the truth is, you might be surprised to learn,

college actually used to be free in the United States,

or at the very least accessible.

See, college attendance in the US exploded after World War II.

And that was because we created a wealth of programs

aimed at making higher education affordable and accessible.

First, the GI Bill made college cheap for a generation of veterans.

...