Do conservatives really REALLY believe that? Back in my day my state's universities were tuition free for in-state students. Check now what your state unies require for in-state students. I might also mention that a good portion of my students in my evening classes at the local two year college (I quit in Dec 2019) were 20 something women, who were in evening classes because they had full time day jobs. Or they could only be there when hubby was home to look after the baby. In my own case, my family was able to finance me through Grad School, in Austria yet. (The US $ was much stronger then. It would be much harder now.)
The difference is between the definitions of equality and equity. Equality is when everyone has the right to get into the race but the left has been preaching equity in which everyone’s outcome in the race is the same. Pelosi, Schumer, Biden, the “squad”, BLM and many others have used the word equity to oppose two words, “white privilege”.