answer:My biggest issue with publicly-funded universities is that it compromises the institution’s self-determination, and jeopardizes its ability to shelter unpopular opinion. Accepting – and eventually depending on – money from a political entity means that there may come a time when you are encouraged to endorse an opinion or else lose that funding. Little danger right now; the unies and the polies are pretty well meshed. But hey, things change. A secondary concern is that someone will think that “public” means “accessible” and make college a continuation of high school, rendering anything short of an alphabet soup on the sheepskin worth very little indeed. What would I publicly fund instead? This may sound old-fashioned, but I might fund people’s wallets by just leaving it alone.