Always interesting. Still,...

Paying off existing student debt does not educate anyone. It is a very different thing from subsidizing future education. One can favor subsidizing education but not paying off student loans unless all graduates get a refund. Paying off loans is arguably a form of progressive taxation: the people who have paid off their loans, or never had any, can afford to pay for their own educations. But then that form of progressive taxation must compete with all others for allocating the tax burden, and it's not clear it's better than, say, a taxable UBI.

Speaking of UBI, you make the excellent point that we all decide every day whether to engage in mass violence (or any other kind, actually). Thus public policy includes balancing contentment and coercion as reasons to choose peace. Making education available would seem a pleasant move toward contentment as a factor. OTOH, it's not yet clear that higher education in not a dose-limited drug. You know the joke: The physics graduate asks "why does it happen?", the engineering graduate asks "How does it happen?" and the liberal arts graduate asks "Do you want fries with that?"

Which brings us to your (philosophical) position on the purpose of science, In Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality, Manjit Kumar writes that Bohr shared your view about prediction, but Einstein sought truth. I don't know enough physics to argue whether Einstein "wasted" time on looking for his GUT, but I think it's worth noting that Albert might not have agreed with your take on the matter.

Oh, and as a Penn grad, I thank you for your choice of Ivy League, examples. When I went, tuition was $900 a semester. Those were 1960's dollars, but adjusted, it's still nothing like prices today. I agree that whom one meets at college matters, but having not attended a less demanding school, I can't wholly dismiss the quality of the education as being important. On the whole, though, the contacts, and the credential itself, have significant value. But the credential gets its value from the selectivity of the school, which somehow makes me think of a gyroscope help up by its own momentum.