Hacker News Reader

Comment by s73v3r_ | Hacker News Reader

I can't really agree. There are enough who do need to survive on it that it should be a living wage. And I can't agree that them being priced out is a problem, because back when it was a living wage, students were able to get part-time jobs at minimum wage just fine.

View on HN

My father went to college in the early 80s, he was able to work as a ditch digger in the sunmers and pay for his school, books, and living off of that. Let's say he worked 80 hr/week 12 weeks a year. Say it now cost 25k a year (that's low) to go to college. To cover that now you would need to net ~$26 hr to do the same thing. The issue isn't that wages have grown to slow, it is that important costs have grown to quickly.

"My father went to college in the early 80s, he was able to work as a ditch digger in the sunmers and pay for his school, books, and living off of that."

Your example is completely invalid today.

"The issue isn't that wages have grown to slow, it is that important costs have grown to quickly."

And employers bear the responsibility for that.

>>"The issue isn't that wages have grown to slow, it is that important costs have grown to quickly."

>And employers bear the responsibility for that.

Per the article [0] after adjusting for inflation "That makes the current cost [of college] more than two-and-a-half times as much as it was in 1988 — a markup of 163 percent."

How are employers responsible for a 163% increase in the real cost of college?

[0] https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/how-much-college-tuition-has...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com