For decades, New Yorkers had access to free, world-class education without having to attend expensive Ivy League universities (unless they received scholarships).
Pupils would attend regular local high schools, or specialized ones like Hunter College HS, Stuyvesant HS, Brooklyn Tech, or Bronx Science, than attend a free CUNY college if they had the minimum required GPA.
NYC had private Catholic universities like Fordham, St Joseph's, or SJU.
But why pay for those colleges when we have CUNY?
After two demanding years at Queensboro Community College (QCC), mostly young women graduated to became RNs, making handsome salaries for themselves.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice propelled thousands of NYC graduates into careers as investigators for a slew of federal, state, or city agencies, like a pipeline.
College of Staten Island had an outstanding veterinary program.
Brooklyn and Queens College educated our teachers and musicians, while CCNY was dubbed the "Harvard of the Proletariat," producing 13 or 14 Nobel Prize laureates.
But times have changed for the worse and CUNY is no longer free-- decades now.
Education, medical, and housing costs for young Americans-- and the elderly-- across the country today are far greater than yesteryear.
Hmmm... 100 and 70 years sentences for, 'attempted murder', eh?
Actually longer than Karmelo Anthony got for real murder.
"To learn who rules over you, find out who attempted murder is punished harder than actual murder."
--Voltaire, probably