When my DC were young, there was none of this state provision of pre-school places. I had to pay for my DC's childcare. When I realised that private schools cost about the same nurseries (at this age), we went to private school because, again, state schools did not then provide the after-school clubs and wraparound care that they do today.
If my DC were a bit older, they would have had free University tuition but now they will have to pay.
I do not begrudge today's parents their free state provision but our generation seem to have been stuffed at both ends of their educational life. We have had the double whammy of having to pay for what others have had for free and also paying for those same others through my taxes. Not fair!