That's the bill for my first semester of college, in 1970. In 2024 dollars, that would be just under $16,000. (Inflation calculators differ, but not by much.)
Let's not look at the total bill, but annual tuition, which is easier to compare.
- Annual tuition at the University of Rochester in 1970: $2600
- Approximate equivalent in 2024 dollars: $21,020
- Current annual tuition at the U of R: $65,870
Why is the inflation-adjusted cost of a college education at my alma mater more than three times what it was when I was there?
- Is the education three times better than it was then? (Highly doubtful.)
- Are the professors being paid three times as much? (Not the ones I know.)
- Are the graduates earning three times the salaries? (A quick investigation indicates the entry-level salaries for a position similar to my first job in 1974 are, adjusted for inflation, very similar to mine back then. But that's far from the whole story. I was in a tech field—computing, the early days—where one could easily expect a salary that justified the cost of college. How many of today's graduates can say the same? Today, far more students are "attending college," but studying what they should have learned in high school, and graduating with degrees that give them little hope of commensurate employment.)
- After four years of college, are today's graduates that much more mature, responsible, capable, well-read, well-rounded, generally competent, and prepared for adulthood—employment, marriage, parenthood, and contributing to society? Are they happier and more well-adjusted than we were? (A small minority are very impressive. But for far too many, college has been a tragic waste of both precious time and an obscene amount of money.)
If the parents in each generation always or often knew what really goes on at their sons’ schools, the history of education would be very different. — C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, 70 years ago
Eventually parents are going to wake up to what a poor job colleges are doing. — a math professor friend, 25 years ago
When is this bubble going to burst? — me, now.
The health insurance seems particularly striking. $28 a year would be about $230 in today’s dollars—less than what I pay per month.
Sounds great, doesn't it? The important thing to note, however, is the check mark next to "Covered by other insurance." This was just supplemental insurance; I was covered for anything major by my father's insurance until I was 21—or 23 if I were still in college at that point. I'm not certain, but I believe the supplemental insurance covered things like visits to the University Health Service for minor services, like flushing out my eye when I splashed potassium dichromate in it in chem lab.
Also, in those days, at least in the U.S., "health insurance" was a very different thing from what it is expected to be today. It really was insurance, meant to cover major expenses that couldn't be budgeted for: the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, not the buffeting of normal life.
