'Free' public education paid for by taxation, has been a cornerstone of Scottish education since 1616, so it's not a recent invention and has little to do with devolution.
There are many times more uni students now than when I left school in the early 80's and given that the 3 clericals in my work are all graduates doesn't make me think much of the value of their higher education.
I can only speak from a Scottish perspective, but I think that we should revert to a grant system for certain vocational degrees such as medicine, nursing, law, engineering etc. We should have a limited number of means tested grants for Arts degrees, so that only the most talented get the grants. Uni's and colleges can then sell off whatever capacity they have on a loan based system to the rest of the potential under graduates.
Schools desperately need to encourage the uptake of a proper trade education. We should emulate the German system of having Professor Engineers and allowing mechanics, joiners and other trades, the ability to take recognised and respected qualifications that close the gap on the class differences that are evident between graduates and tradesmen.