Want to shock a college student? Tell him how much tuition cost in the '60s

[mystery-ak]

May 12, 2019
Want to shock a college student? Tell him how much tuition cost in the '60s
By John J. Duncan, Jr.

In June of 1965, I graduated from high school in Knoxville, left my job as a bagboy at the A&P, and became a salesman at Sears, making $1.25 an hour.

I worked full-time that summer and part-time after starting at the University of Tennessee in late September.

I have enjoyed shocking students at U.T. in recent years by telling them it was $90 a quarter my freshman year — $270 for the school year.

Telling students about my tuition has allowed me to then tell them a simple but important lesson that they have seemingly never been taught: that costs simply explode on anything the federal government subsidizes.

more
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/05/want_to_shock_a_college_student_tell_him_how_much_college_cost_in_the_60s.html

[sneakypete]

After telling them how much you paid,explain to them WHY they are paying so much today. Make sure to focus on how much of their tuition goes to give "free" tuition's to people who can barely speak English and have no hope of actually being able to pass any course that has critical thinking,yet who will graduate with them and then take the top jobs the working students paid for BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT WHITE.

[LadyLiberty]

It wasn't too bad when I went, either (1977-1981).  I got a $4000 scholarship, split eight semesters of $500 each.  I attended one summer session, so ended up going 9 semesters. It covered everything -- tuition, fees, books, parking, and even lots of lab fees (Chemistry / Biochemistry degree).  I saved what was left over every semester, and when my final semester came and there were no more scholarship payments, I had enough saved to pay for that final semester and still had about $300 left after that.  Room and board at that time was around $600 per semester, but I lived at home and commuted.  My first job, which I started immediately after graduation, had a salary of $22k, which sounds paltry by today's standards but a great ROI considering what the degree cost.

[Hoodat]

This was back before the federal government decided to fix it.

[Sanguine]

Sort of sloppy that the writer didn't adjust for inflation.  If he had, those  1965 $90 would now be $730.14 in 2019, which is still shockingly low, but much more understandable.

[Wingnut]

Sort of sloppy that the writer didn't adjust for inflation.  If he had, those  1965 $90 would now be $730.14 in 2019, which is still shockingly low, but much more understandable.

Not to mention the low cost of Futile and Stupid Gesture's back then...

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[andy58-in-nh]

Not to mention the low cost of Futile and Stupid Gesture's back then...

I also experienced my share of stupid, futile and well, just plain fun gestures, back when I was a fraternity member at a certain Ivy-bedecked institution in the 1970s. Such as when, during the annual Snow Sculpture contest, we decided to feature a giant (arch-rival) Yale bulldog lifting its leg on a fire hydrant, which contained a beer keg with a hidden tap and hose running up into the bulldog's... well, hose. We didn't win, but it was a very popular attraction. Today, we'd probably all be expelled.

But the truly amazing part was that I was able to pay my tuition bill by working part-time and all summer, and with relatively little in the way of student loans, even though my parents were far from wealthy.   

[Absalom]

Want to induce a much bigger shock??? Then acquaint them w/this reality.
Plato, Euclid, Pericles, Cicero, Galileo, Shakespeare, Copernicus, Michelangelo,
Haydn and Confucius, among thousands; never had our prized modernist
credential, the College Degree. Omigod!!!
Think how deprived they were, how empty their lives must have been and how
hopeless their prospects for advancement in life had to be. Truly sad!

[ABX]

$240 in 1960 would be $2,072 today, about the cost of a small community college.

[mountaineer]

My father worked his way through college in the 1940s. It cost $37 per semester, which he earned working for his uncle, a house painter.

[Wingnut]

I also experienced my share of stupid, futile and well, just plain fun gestures, back when I was a fraternity member at a certain Ivy-bedecked institution in the 1970s. Such as when, during the annual Snow Sculpture contest, we decided to feature a giant (arch-rival) Yale bulldog lifting its leg on a fire hydrant, which contained a beer keg with a hidden tap and hose running up into the bulldog's... well, hose. We didn't win, but it was a very popular attraction. Today, we'd probably all be expelled.

Not having the benefit of an Ivy School education (but having the Fraternal brotherhood thing going strong during the same time frame,) when we built snow "things" we built them with practicality and functionality in mind.  Evidence is below in the attachment.  That is a Pabst pony keg about to be tapped for a impromptu party as classes were cancelled by a freak snow storm.  I am on the top right!

[andy58-in-nh]

Not having the benefit of an Ivy School education (but having the Fraternal brotherhood thing going strong during the same time frame,) when we built snow "things" we built them with practicality and functionality in mind.  Evidence is below in the attachment.  That is a Pabst pony keg about to be tapped for a impromptu party as classes were cancelled by a freak snow storm.  I am on the top right!

That is awesome - thanks for sharing. There's no better way to keep your PBR's cold. And let's face it: PBR is a lot better when it is as cold as possible.

BTW, the next year, after the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan, we built (in protest) a snow replica of a Russian tank running down an Olympic athlete carrying a torch. No beer this time, but we scored points for political expression. The communist faculty members hated us for it, natch. 

[Wingnut]

@andy58-in-nh   True on the "colder the better"!    I thank the Lord for many thing during college.  Beer for one.... oh  and coming of age before AB started marketing that gastronomical abomination they called Natty Light that college kids have thrived on since 1978.