05-08-2013, 10:14 AM
Ok, I just looked up my annual pay working a summer job:
1967 $1,7xx (the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, working construction as a union laborer running a No. 2 shovel, a pick and a 6 foot bar.) I saved most of this money.
1968 $2,6xx (same job, lots of overtime)
1969 $1,9xx
I made enough to self-pay for my tuition, fees, books, and room and board to attend Mankato State College as an entering freshman in fall of 1968 ($4.50/quarter credit hour, $300 for room and board/quarter). With money left over for plenty of other things. I lived at home when college was not in session and paid no room and board to my parents.
My state supported higher education back then.
And take home pay was like $53 a week for a student working a summer job and earning minimum wage. It's all relative.
I worked construction during the summer and saved well over $1k which was enough to pay tuition and room and board. I don't remember my hourly wage...
It's just that pulling a figure out of the air with no context seems rather pointless. Ground beef was 39 cents a pound when I was in college, but that number by itself is kind of a so what. You need to compare cost per credit with income of the era, in which case we would see that college credit costs have skyrocketed. Otherwise we're just old fartts discussing the days of yore.
Well, my first full time permanent job in 1970 paid about $4/hour. No doubt tuition had climbed to $5/quarter credit hour or $7.50/semester credit hour. That's $120 per 16 semester credits, fees and books add another $80 or so. I could make that $200 in fifty hours of work before taxes. (Plus about $500 for room and board.) That $30/hour job will get you $1500 in the same amount of time but it surely will not pay your tuition. Government has chosen not to prioritize the funding of higher education.
1967 $1,7xx (the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, working construction as a union laborer running a No. 2 shovel, a pick and a 6 foot bar.) I saved most of this money.
1968 $2,6xx (same job, lots of overtime)
1969 $1,9xx
I made enough to self-pay for my tuition, fees, books, and room and board to attend Mankato State College as an entering freshman in fall of 1968 ($4.50/quarter credit hour, $300 for room and board/quarter). With money left over for plenty of other things. I lived at home when college was not in session and paid no room and board to my parents.
My state supported higher education back then.
Speedy wrote:
[quote=$tevie]
[quote=Speedy]
[quote=$tevie]
[quote=Speedy]
I paid $4.50/quarter credit hour. Plus fees, etc. At State U in 1968.
And take home pay was like $53 a week for a student working a summer job and earning minimum wage. It's all relative.
I worked construction during the summer and saved well over $1k which was enough to pay tuition and room and board. I don't remember my hourly wage...
It's just that pulling a figure out of the air with no context seems rather pointless. Ground beef was 39 cents a pound when I was in college, but that number by itself is kind of a so what. You need to compare cost per credit with income of the era, in which case we would see that college credit costs have skyrocketed. Otherwise we're just old fartts discussing the days of yore.
Well, my first full time permanent job in 1970 paid about $4/hour. No doubt tuition had climbed to $5/quarter credit hour or $7.50/semester credit hour. That's $120 per 16 semester credits, fees and books add another $80 or so. I could make that $200 in fifty hours of work before taxes. (Plus about $500 for room and board.) That $30/hour job will get you $1500 in the same amount of time but it surely will not pay your tuition. Government has chosen not to prioritize the funding of higher education.