OK, Boomer
Paying for college has gotten harder and harder as the years have passed. This is something that most people reading this article can agree with, whether or not you are being assisted doesn’t necessarily matter because the gist of it all is that college is more expensive now than it ever has been. Some people do not go to college just to avoid the debt they would accrue by attending, and some are unable to finish their degrees for financial reasons. What is even more frustrating than this though, is the implied notion from a certain generation that the only reason students are accruing these debts is because students are lazy. The generation of baby boomers (some of them, not all of them) seems to think that students are only accumulating debt because they refuse to work to make the money needed to pay off these debts.
However, this simply is not true. The baby boomer generation covers those born between 1946 and 1964. To some, these boomers are grandparents; to others, parents. No matter who they are to you, the way money is spent has changed vastly since their time in college (in order to create a stable variable, I will be referring to those born in 1953 in terms of the research ahead). In 1946, for example, $100 in 2018 dollars was worth $10.63 in 1953 according to the CPI Inflation Calculator. When boomers would start going to college (let’s say at 18 years old, so around 1971), $100 in 2018 dollars was worth $16.13. According to 24/7 Wall St. the average yearly tuition of a private institution—including room, board, tuitions, and fees was $1,410.00. In 2018, that’s worth $8,742.24. So, a four-year public university education in 1971 would cost $5,640.00. In 2018, it would cost $34,968.96. This does not cover the higher fees, room or board though as the average cost for a public university today according to 24/7 Wall St. is $46,950.
Now, calculating in a part-time job is trickier. College students only have so much time to work a week, and some jobs pay more than others. On top of this, we do not know how much of this money is going toward college. Because of increase in property taxes and the inflation and crash of the real estate tycoons, figuring out just how much a job would help a student in 2018 is near impossible. We would also have to look into things like scholarships, FASFA, and more. Not matter the variables though, if you are in college in 2018 know this: what you are doing is important, you are not lazy, and you are doing what you can.