Earlier quoted context omitted.
College is expensive because so much money is available in the forms of subsidies and loans. If the federal government stopped guaranteeing loans, and cut back on other subsidies, the cost of college would be much much lower.
Considering the millions of people struggling to pay for college and desperate for lower tuition, this is totally untrue. This is like saying, "if we didn't have food stamps, food would be half the cost."
Plus, the nature of the subsidy is important. State-sponsored universities don't seem any more culpable than private ones in this mess.