Schools realized they had a product that people wanted, no matter the cost . And the divide between those who had only a high school education and those who were college graduates became, increasingly, the central fact of American economic life. If you were on the wrong side of that divide, you would likely be left behind to live a life of struggle and worry, ending in frustration and despair. The alternative path was open only to those with a college degree.
“Fifty years ago, the average GM employee could pay for a year of a son or daughter’s college tuition on just two weeks wages.” These days, it would be more like 10 weeks. You see, in the ’70s, something changed. Colleges and universities had expanded after World War II to meet the rising demand as the GI Bill enabled veterans to get a college education. Then, in the ’70s, Baby Boomers – many of them children of those vets – were graduating from high school and eager to get into college where they could earn those degrees that would lead to “careers” rather than “jobs.” For men graduating high school in the mid- and late-’60s, attending college was the alternative to Vietnam. This was an undeniable incentive. And, as before, the government helped with the money with Pell Grants and other subsidies. Higher education was now paid for with borrowed money for which the students , not the colleges, would be on the hook. College prices starting climbing. From 1978 to 2018, college tuition and fees increased by 1,300%. That is almost twice the 700% growth in the cost of health care, which is usually considered the chief offender in the burdening of the middle class. Consumer prices overall rose just 300%.
If you were on the wrong side of that divide, you would likely be left behind to live a life of struggle and worry, ending in frustration and despair.
People responded to this kind of “binary” choice in the predictable way: In 1950, slightly more than 7% of American men and 5% of women had completed four or more years of college. In 2018, those numbers had risen to 34.6% and 35.3%, respectively. All these new students were eager – even desperate – to get a college degree... But they had choices. Some schools were “better” than others. Some were even “elite.” A degree could guarantee entry into a world of stimulating work, lavish pay, and social status. Admission to these schools was based, notionally, on “merit” – as determined by a calculus that only the institutions themselves seemed to fathom. Inevitably, the system was gamed.
States that had once supported public universities began shifting costs from
taxpayers to students and their parents. We stopped thinking of paying for college as the equivalent of buying a new car. We now think of paying for college as equivalent to buying a new house. A nice new house.
American Consequences
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