The second benefit accrued to the state from investment in free university education is the gain in cultural relevance it sees with a highly educated population. Students of the arts provide extensive intangible benefits to society, through beauty in architecture, painting, crafts, etc. Likewise students of history, literature and classics provide boons in the form of helping society to understand itself and its place and relevance in the world by fostering an understanding of its past. Without free university education, fewer people would be able to dedicate themselves to the study of such subjects, reducing the amount of beauty and culture in society, to its detriment.