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I was often told stories from the Boomer generation of people "working their way through college", holding part time jobs through college to pay for both living

I was often told stories from the Boomer generation of people "working their way through college", holding part time jobs through college to pay for both living expenses and tuition. That is, quite literally, impossible today.

asah 6y ago
Even GenX attending certain state schools could partially pay for school this way, especially if you had low/free rent, for example living at home.
- craftinator 6y ago
  Can you provide some sources for this? Let's assume minimum wage, calculate average living expenses, hours spent in class and doing HW vs hours working. I know I spent at least 70hrs a week doing school.
  - kingaillas 6y ago
    I'm GenX, went to college in the late 80's, in state tuition in TX was $2000 per semester as I recall. I knew people who worked a part time 20 hours/week job that paid $8 an hour. (graveyard shift sorting boxes at a local shipping company). I knew many others who did some program where they worked at the college and made $5 an hour IIRC). I was a grader/TA/proctor for the first year engineering course and made the princely sum of about $10/hr but there was a lower cap on weekly hours which I don't recall exactly. I want to say it worked out to 10 hours/week on average so about $100 a week. For two semesters of about 18 weeks of work (10 hours a week) I could make $3600. But you had to be a junior or senior so this job could only be done for 2 years. Not sure what sources you want to see. The fact is tuition now is mind bogglingly more than when I went. Or, tuition is outrageously jacked up now compared to the past. Here's a link from the Houston Chronicle showing tuition over the years for TX: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/The-cost-of-college-the-year-you-were-born-13161655.php https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/The-c... For 1990 it shows average tuition, room, board was about $6500 for a YEAR, for TX state schools. Maybe you couldn't earn every penny you needed while also attending as a student, but it sure was a hell of a lot easier to get 50% of the way there than it is now. If you needed financial aid to bridge the gap you weren't facing painful debt for decades. If you only had to borrow half of what you needed, you could leave college with a loan of $13000 to pay off. That's a cheap car.
    - craftinator 6y ago
      Ah my brain did a flip flop, mixed up genX with millennials. Yes, that was a very different landscape than we have now. I recently went back to school for an EE degree, and the costs were insane, even for someone with a good job and middle class wealth. An interesting thing I noticed was the the time cost for classes. I would spend a HUGE amount of time doing homework, maybe double the time it took during my CS degree. A lot of that time was fighting against the online homework system; what I could do on paper in 10 minutes would take 20 minutes to do, and the sheer load of homework was much higher. I can't imagine trying to hold a decent job and still keep my grades up. College seems a pretty poor option modern day.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
draw_down 6y ago
That's ok, they'll still talk trash about how millennials and younger generations have no work ethic. They were born on third base and think they hit a triple.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
sharkiwi 6y ago
It is in a city. I'm working to pay for my living expenses and full-time university currently ongoing -- not really struggling, either. The last few weeks of each semester requires sacrificing some sleep, though.
catalogia 6y ago
It's still possible if you go the computer science route and get a few good intern gigs, but the margins are quite tight. It's a far cry from paying for college by selling firewood, like my baby-boomer father did.

asah 6y ago

Even GenX attending certain state schools could partially pay for school this way, especially if you had low/free rent, for example living at home.

craftinator 6y ago
Can you provide some sources for this? Let's assume minimum wage, calculate average living expenses, hours spent in class and doing HW vs hours working. I know I spent at least 70hrs a week doing school.
- kingaillas 6y ago
  I'm GenX, went to college in the late 80's, in state tuition in TX was $2000 per semester as I recall. I knew people who worked a part time 20 hours/week job that paid $8 an hour. (graveyard shift sorting boxes at a local shipping company). I knew many others who did some program where they worked at the college and made $5 an hour IIRC). I was a grader/TA/proctor for the first year engineering course and made the princely sum of about $10/hr but there was a lower cap on weekly hours which I don't recall exactly. I want to say it worked out to 10 hours/week on average so about $100 a week. For two semesters of about 18 weeks of work (10 hours a week) I could make $3600. But you had to be a junior or senior so this job could only be done for 2 years. Not sure what sources you want to see. The fact is tuition now is mind bogglingly more than when I went. Or, tuition is outrageously jacked up now compared to the past. Here's a link from the Houston Chronicle showing tuition over the years for TX: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/The-cost-of-college-the-year-you-were-born-13161655.php https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/The-c... For 1990 it shows average tuition, room, board was about $6500 for a YEAR, for TX state schools. Maybe you couldn't earn every penny you needed while also attending as a student, but it sure was a hell of a lot easier to get 50% of the way there than it is now. If you needed financial aid to bridge the gap you weren't facing painful debt for decades. If you only had to borrow half of what you needed, you could leave college with a loan of $13000 to pay off. That's a cheap car.
  - craftinator 6y ago
    Ah my brain did a flip flop, mixed up genX with millennials. Yes, that was a very different landscape than we have now. I recently went back to school for an EE degree, and the costs were insane, even for someone with a good job and middle class wealth. An interesting thing I noticed was the the time cost for classes. I would spend a HUGE amount of time doing homework, maybe double the time it took during my CS degree. A lot of that time was fighting against the online homework system; what I could do on paper in 10 minutes would take 20 minutes to do, and the sheer load of homework was much higher. I can't imagine trying to hold a decent job and still keep my grades up. College seems a pretty poor option modern day.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]

draw_down 6y ago

That's ok, they'll still talk trash about how millennials and younger generations have no work ethic. They were born on third base and think they hit a triple.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

sharkiwi 6y ago

It is in a city. I'm working to pay for my living expenses and full-time university currently ongoing -- not really struggling, either. The last few weeks of each semester requires sacrificing some sleep, though.

catalogia 6y ago

It's still possible if you go the computer science route and get a few good intern gigs, but the margins are quite tight. It's a far cry from paying for college by selling firewood, like my baby-boomer father did.