In my humble opinion, government assistance to university students should be limited to those subjects which feed into those occupations that the country identifies as both needed and in a state of shortage: Engineering, Maths and Science, and to those applicants with the exam-proven intellectual capacity to succeed in them.

Fluff papers are fine as long as the student pays their own way.

Law, Medicine and Commerce lead to above average incomes so pay for themselves over time. Assistance there should be in the form of loans to those without the ability to fund it themselves, to be paid back by the professionals once they graduate and get high paying jobs.

This would keep tax-payers’ funds restricted to where they do social good, either buy supplying skilled graduates in unpopular (Because they are hard) courses, and help the children of the poor lift themselves out of poverty through education.