College Tuition—Then and Now

Loan Officers are the new boogeymen.

By Starling Root
QuailBellMagazine.com

Chances are if you're reading this post, you're a college-educated woman, or at least plan to become one. Why? Because that's the demographic that reads actual essays and articles online, aware that BuzzFeed.com publishes something other than hilarious lists. 

Now, if you're a college-educated woman in the United States, chances are pretty good that you also carry student loans. According to Sallie Mae's “How America Pays for College 2012” report, 18% of college students and 9% of students' parents take out loans to pay for college. 

If you have any interest in higher education (and your personal future), you've probably heard that President Obama has proposed a college-rating system that evaluates colleges based on their tuition policies. The idea is to give families a full financial picture. The story doesn't end there.

The Washington Post Wonkblog is now running a 10-part series over the next two weeks “exploring the causes and consequences of—and potential fixes for—the skyrocketing costs of higher education.” The series is called “The Tuition is Too Damn High.” In part one, writer Dylan Matthews opens the post with this statement:

“My mom graduated from college in 1975. Her senior year at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the state’s flagship campus, cost $322 (around $1,400 today), financed by generous state subsidies. Not only did she graduate with no debt, but she managed to pay her way through college by working part-time.”

Does that sound like a dream? It's not. It's the truth. If your parents and grandparents were fortunate enough to go to college, ask them how much their tuition was. You might feel tempted to cry. Their tuition was much lower than yours. Sure, Grandma might've been forced into declaring a Home Ec major even if her heart and mind should've put her in a STEM field, but, hey, at least she didn't have to worry about those monthly post-grad payments! There are some things that still make the good ol' days the good ol' days.