But I don't see this being a big part of current public discussion on education. So I doubt the idea would really get any traction without e.g. a candidate in a presidential election pushing for it.

Similar to Yang and Basic Income. Even though that idea is more far fetched/challenging to implement, he was able to give it a lot of public mindshare. I believe if somebody did the same for streamlining college education to make it more economical to students it would be a broadly popular position. That lights the match for the grassroots movement to kick off and grow.