wrt the last piece, I like the system in countries like the UK & Ireland. National syllabus for every course, national exams, grades correlate to scores, and courses have a score to attend. You know what score you need to get (although it can go up based on demand) to do the course you want, so go for it. None of this total and absolute BS about essays and service hours and extracurricular activities that students have to do to apply for colleges, ffs!!!
As for paying for it, the countries above have some costs, but nothing like here (nobody has anything like the US). Australia for example (afaik) has free college, but a grad tax, so you still pay, but only once you have graduated and entered the work force.