I think you're right. In the UK context, the first incarnation of fees appeared to work OK and not bring the negatives that are becoming clear after the introduction of high fees. Even the overseas students paying higher fees seemed to bring less expectation and entitlement to a first whilst standard fees were only £3k, which I can't explain.

Of course the other aspect when fees were first introduced was the policy to significantly increase numbers attending university. This brought its own set of problems including harming standards (unavoidable of course) and vocational institutions, and no end of colleges remaking themselves as universities.