Nurses might be a good benchmark for setting this up -- google says "Registered Nurses made a median salary of $70,000" which sounds to me like they'd be a decent bet.
Training lots of people in currently high-wage jobs would be precisely the point -- those high wages are the signal that the economy could use more of them.
If there are professions which can't be funded this way (which means that right now, those employed in them never pay off their debt) which we would like to subsidise, then let's do that directly, give out music scholarships etc.
The "so-called free market" in education is responding to incentives we are providing it, which are really terrible.
Training lots of people in currently high-wage jobs would be precisely the point -- those high wages are the signal that the economy could use more of them.
If there are professions which can't be funded this way (which means that right now, those employed in them never pay off their debt) which we would like to subsidise, then let's do that directly, give out music scholarships etc.
The "so-called free market" in education is responding to incentives we are providing it, which are really terrible.