How much did college tuition cost 10 years ago?

[Kamikaze]

Let's say for someone going to your average public university.

I'm just wondering if I should have been born in 1973 instead of 1983. :(

[Lone_Wolf]

1. I think I paid right around $3000 /yr

in New York. Room and Board added on another few $1000.

[hatrack]

11. That sounds about right - mine was maybe a touch higher

Graduated in 1991, and by the end I was paying between $1500 - 1800 in tuition per semester, depending on the number of hours, of course.

This was a public university, and does not include room & board, since I lived elsewhere.

[lovedems]

2. I graduated from St. Michael's College in Vermont in 1992 and my

tuition without room and board (had an apartment) was 17,000 a year. That was costly even back then but tuition now is $25,325
a year with out room and board.

[Joe Fields]

3. In 1983, when I went to a community college in Kansas City,

tuition was $17.50 per credit hour.

In 1998, when I went through the University of Missouri system in K.C. tuition was $120.00 per credit hour. By the time I left in 2001, it was $160.00 per credit hour. I don't know what it is today.

[cmf]

4. I started college 10 years ago

Public tuition was about $2-3K. I went to a private university, and my tuition was locked in at around $10k per year.

[Kamikaze]

5. I went to the University of Illinois-Chicago for a year.

One year of tuition and room/board jacked me out of 12,000 smackers. PUBLIC UNIVERSITY! :cry:

[LiberalEsto]

6. Wanna really cry?

I went to Rutgers University, NJ's state university, starting in 1969.
In-state student tuition was $200 per semester, plus about $65 per semester in student fees. Combined with room and board, a year at Rutgers cost about $1,500 in 1969.

Of course the minimum wage was about $1.60 an hour, and my dad earned a whopping $12,000 a year, which supported a family of 4.

[Kamikaze]

8. Inflation

I'm fairly sure that college tuition is skyrocketing past the rate of inflation these days. How anyone is supposed to pay for all this without financial aid boggles my mind.

[Nimrod]

12. That's just it, you aren't

If education was affordable nobody would have to put themselves into hock for 20 years to pay for it. That means the poor disenfranchised financial firms wouldn't get all that cash from interest.

[JayS]

15. At least low interest loans are still around. I would have never...

...made it without those!

[MissB]

7. I paid about $1300 a term

in 1993-1996 at my state university. I was in my mid-20s by then and living with my husband so I didn't have room/board.

As a note of interest, a recent article pointed out that the state of Oregon subsidized approximately 66% of a university student's education back in that time period. I'm not talking about free grant money- I'm talking about money for buildings, benefits, etc.

That number is now down to 30%, which is why more students (at least in our state) are having problems paying for college. Tuition and fees have increased to cover the shortfall.

It pisses me off to no end when someone writes into the editorial page of our local newspaper and blathers on about how they made it through college on their own and others should be able to as well.

I imagine you're going to end up with a great deal of debt - and I feel for you.

[Bandit]

9. It varied in every University but Clinton did a great thing

He took the College loans away from banks and had government issue them with very low interest rates. It made the money more available and cut all the red tape. That was immediately reversed when Bush* took over ands now the money changers again have a lock on our young people's future.

[kimchi]

10. I paid less than 2k OUT OF STATE in West Virginia 15 years ago.

It was cheaper than most in-state tuition in VA at the time. I don't have a clue what the going rates are today.

[JayS]

13. I went to college back in the 80s. Tuition was low and fees...

...were low. It was possible to work part-time, double-up on an apartment, get loans and grants, and still be able to get by. It was relatively inexpensive to go to school part-time also. Tuition is still pretty much the same after adjusting for inflation but fees have long since gone through what could be called a roof and still remain in Earth's gravitation pull.

The music was better too. :)

[SheilaT]

14. I think that the best way to look at the rise in tuition

is to note that (depending on the state and the years you look at) there was a time when a summer job would pay enough to cover tuition, fees, and books for an in-state student. Maybe even room and board, in a sufficiently low-cost school.

today, even the least expensive of state schools cost more than most students can realistically earn and save in the summer, even discounting the many more things everyone spends their money on these days.

The essential difference is how much lower a percentage of the cost the states themselves pay for these days, something most parents (and students)who are complaining bitterly about the increased costs of school.

I also think the most dangerous thing anyone can do is to take on significant debt to pay for school.

Community colleges are for the most part excellent ways to keep your college costs in line. If you don't have much money and aren't going to get scholarships, start out at your local junior college, if you're lucky enough to have one nearby. Often the quality of the teaching is as good or better than at the main campus of the state university, credits should be completely transferable, and they often have much better services for students than do the bigger schools.

[JayS]

16. College is one of the few things that I would advise going into...

...debt for, if that is the only option. You will have to limit your field of study to those areas that will be relatively certain to provide a job that will allow you to service the debt after graduation though.