Arguments for college fees that don't hold up

An argument for fees for higher education is that low-wage professionals should not have to pay for middle-class academic careers through taxes. This argument is based on the idea that professionals have no use for the work of academics. That is not the case. What would the workers be without academics who give us machines and electricity and keep us from falling back to the Stone Age level of development? What would the workers be without doctors, nurses, teachers, etc.