> if you are on the receiving end of a crap course that doesn't help you get a job is it really good that you'll have to pay for it (when you get a well paying job from entirely unconnected means)?

When the alternative is:

> if you are on the receiving end of a crap course that doesn't help you get a job is it really good that you'll have to pay for it (with interest, even if you're still unemployed after taking the course)?

Yeah, the former is really good.

Sure, it'd be better if the courses were free. But are you going to spend two years teaching computer science without pay? I'm not going to, and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that most people won't either.