But even in the good old days when the article assumes everyone was working his/her way through college (and really, there were still plenty of parents paying, scholarships, athletic scholarships), there were people living in rural areas that needed to move to the city to attend college. Some people live near a college and can save money by living at home and commuting, some don’t. If anything there are more community colleges, college branches, and distance learning opportunities than there were 20-30 years ago, so more students can at least start college while living at home and pay tuition by working their way through, especial if the parents are willing to contribute the room and board.
On another thread right now a high school student is looking for help on how to get money to go to college. This student is from Tenn and doesn’t seem interested in the FREE community college option. I’m not judging her wanting to go ‘away to college’ like other 18 year olds, just saying the FREE option is there, and students aren’t jumping on it.
One big difference in the good old days and now is the status of the student. My friend moved to Colorado, worked for 2 years and was not only independent but got instate rates for tuition. He then work at a lab at school for 20 hours per week, making better money than most of us. He did not ‘play’ as much, always working or studying. Today, he wouldn’t have been able to do this because he would have been paying OOS tuition until he was 24. He was also 2+ years older than the rest of us, and frankly more mature and focused on working and studying.
At my last job, I knew two young women who worked their way though college. They began at a community college, one lived at home, the other moved in with extended family. Then they got full time jobs, and went to school part-time, in the evenings, with part of their tuition paid by our company. (Both were business/economics majors.) It took YEARS to get their BAs. But they did it. One is now financing her master’s this way.
It can be done. But I agree that it’s harder than it used to be, continues to get increasingly more difficult, and it takes perseverance and a real commitment.
However, a generation or two ago, it was much more possible for someone living on his/her own (i.e. not with parents) to “work one’s way through college”, since high school graduate job opportunities were better and in-state public universities were less expensive. Now, it is much more difficult to do without some kind of parental support (including living at the parent’s place), or earning some sort of highly selective large scholarship (academic merit, athletic, ROTC).
Agree with the above posters re CUNY, a lot of students can pay for CUNY with a part time job and living at home. But no 18 year old is going to be able to make the cost of tuition room and board at a private school with a part time/summer job.