The World Done Change

[phantom power]

I'm about the same age as the author, and my experiences agree with his, fwiw. When I was in HS and college (circa late 80s), if you went to college, particularly anything STEM, or otherwise professional-degree-ish (doctor, lawyer, etc), and just generally didn't fuck up, you could expect to get A Decent Job, that paid off college expenses fairly quickly.

The thing the olds (defined as anyone older than me) don't seem to get is that the American Dream world isn't there anymore. You know, if you roughly do the right things (keep your nose clean, go to college), then you can expect a lifetime of reasonably stable compensation. I went to a lesser state school and from what I can tell, this has been true for my peers. My drunken reprobate bro pals all (from what I can tell through the facebook and similar) seem to have done well enough for themselves, not because they were all Star Pupils, but because they did well enough and got decent enough jobs.

We graduated college into a recession, but not The Great Recession, and tuition was pretty damn cheap then. Things are different now.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2014/04/the-world-done-change.html

[iemitsu]

1. Things sure are different today.

I'm reminded of the 5 cent hamburger, that my father told me of, when I compare the cost of my education to that of people headed to college today.
The first quarter I spent in a junior college, the full-time tuition was $70. now students in my community are paying $1350. per quarter. I remember, when my wife and I entered graduate school, thinking that $840. tuition, was a crime. Undergraduate tuition was $145. per quarter.
Even with those reasonable costs, my wife and I had college loans to pay when we hit the job market. Those modest debts were not that easy to squeeze from entry level salaries. I can't imagine how a graduate today, with huge student loan debt, can begin to make a life for him or herself.

[hunter]

2. I graduated from an excellent university debt free.

Some years I paid zero tuition and even got grants for my books and assorted fees.

If only my kids were so lucky.