@VDCDriver Thanks for the comments. My first job out of collage was in computer SALES and I had to buy or lease a new car to start out. The mileage allowance paid off the car over time.
If my first job had not been in sales, I would have saved up for a car and taken the bus for a while.
Not having any rich relatives here or in Europe, I took out some student loans at a very low interest rate and very easy repayment terms. I only owed $6500 on graduation, so repayment did not take long.
Coming from a relatively poor immigrant family, the value of a dollar was instilled into me very early. We also paid of our various mortgages (4 houses) as fast as the bank allowed without penalties.
Some years back, Consumer Reports published an article titled “Bait the Hook With Merchandise”. This article described how lending agencies work with merchants, including automobile dealers, to convince consumers to buy more expensive products where a less expensive would meet their needs. Naturally, consumers were encouraged to take on as much debt as possible. Truth in Lending laws were passed over the objections of lending institutions. They didn’t need to worry as many people really didn’t understand or care about what interest rates mean. College and University administrators learned their lessons well from this. Rather than trying to contain the costs of an education, students are encouraged to take out huge loans with the promise that a college degree will guarantee them a high paying job upon graduation.
Holy mackerel, $250 per year for tuition?? Say it ain’t so. In 1966 my tuition in South Dakota was $500 per SEMESTER, plus another $500 for room and board. That’s $2000 per year without incidentals like tooth paste. Today tuition is $25,000. I was 200 miles away from home so pretty hard to rely on the folks for transportation so I financed my $500 59 VW until it was totaled and I got my debt free 59 Pontiac for $150. I guess we are just in different worlds. No one ever left me any money but my roommate’s aunt left him $25,000 back in 65 so $2000 was no problem for him or $3000 for that new Pontiac. I got to ride in it though.
It really was that cheap. I can recall writing the checks for $125 each semester.
In addition to how cheap the tuition was in those days, the fact that there were no tuition increases over those 4 years would be considered…amazing…in today’s world. Because I lived at home and commuted to school, that eliminated the added room & board expenses.
Looking further back, my mother received a full scholarship to the exclusive Smith College in the late '20s, but her mother forbade her to go, because “you own two sweaters and two skirts, and you’ll feel really inferior around those rich girls with huge wardrobes”. So, instead, my mother went to Hunter College, which is one of the units of The City University of NY.
Tuition for city residents was…free.
Even her books were free.
The only thing that she paid during those 4 years was a fee for the diploma, which was genuine sheepskin.
@Ed Frugal; Agree on Clark Howard, the most level headed financial advise show I have heard on the radio.
Yesterday a young girl called into Dave Ramsey show. Her car was totaled, could not get to her 2 jobs and did not have full coverage. She was using a loaner but that was not a viable long-term option. His advise was to keep borrowing cars for the next month, save $1000 and then buy a beater in good mechanical condition from a garage sale. Also, to get full coverage on the beater from now on.
I think even for a car guy/gal, it is close to impossible to find a $1000 beater in good mechanical condition that does not need any repairs is going to be close to impossible in today’s market. Maybe she SHOULD borrow some money, or see if a local charity/church has donated cars she could use.
Looking back my engineering tuition from 1956 to 1960 was $550 per year for all subjects, including labs. That was a school with the academic caliber of MIT or Caltech.
When I went back to school in 1963 my MBA program cost already $1500 per year.
Back in the 60’s, I bought a new '67 Chevy II, cost around $1800, as stripped as I could get it. No radio; no air. Only option was the big 250 c.i. engine.
In those days it didn’t take long to need repairs. I bought new Chev. parts, and the smart guys at work screamed I should not be wasting all that money when I could get used parts from the junk yard.
A couple years later, they were all buying new cars Well, it has all these problems, etc mostly from putting in bad repair parts though they would not admit that.
One day I figured out my cost per mile, including buying it; annual costs; insurance; gas; repairs and announced how much it was. I simply can’t remember the numbers, but not much.
they all screamed how horrid it was. And, they’d rattle off some numbers leaving half the real costs off, and tell me how much less their much bigger car cost them.
30 years later, a fellow worker told me that with my big 9 pass. Pontiac station wagon I should be getting 24 mpg on the highway, whereas I got only 17,
I am not hostile to Dave. I agree with those who say it only works after you accumulate some assets, and I view that program, no debt, as a valid long term goal not a from day one program.
In the 1970s it cost us $4000/yr for a small Eastern private university education. My sister’s state university education was $2000/yr. both are about ten times higher today.
Prior To Enrolling At A University I Took General Required Undergrad Classes At A “Local” Community College. Tuition Was $9/Credit Hour.
Hard Cover Books Were $4 or $5.
We had no marble libraries, pool, or fitness center, no on-campus restaurants/snack bars, no golf course, just good small-enrollment classes taught in a repurposed former TB Hospital. A friend attended Community College at a former Nike Missile Base in “portable classrooms”.
Back then the emphasis was on education at an affordable price …
I’m not exactly sure what it’s on now…
I always worked AND attended school, right on through grad school. Some of you know this… Want to get something done? Give it to a busy person… CSA
I don’t ever include gas and insurance in cost per mile calculations except once in a while just to see the operating costs. What I am starting to do is calculate the vehicle cost per mile from trade to trade and seems like it is a reasonable indicator if you are getting a reasonable deal or not. I’m sure the Pontiac would be down around 10 cents per mile although I don’t intend to trade for a while. The Acura though is about 40 cents per mile. That’s at 15K a year and trading every four years. Of course no repairs and everything under warranty and never have to worry about going out of town. Just puts things in perspective is all.
There are still plenty of colleges that are not outrageously expensive. Especially in the middle states. East and west coast schools seem to be the most expensive. Plus many private universities will give every student a reduced rate if you maintain a certain gpa. Several colleges offered my youngest half off tuition if he maintained a 3.0.
I remember being accepted at Northwestern University In Evanston, Il. for the MBA program. I could not afford the Ivey League fees but liked the mixed men and women dormitories.
@ MikeInNH
"Plus many private universities will give every student a reduced rate if you maintain a certain gpa. Several colleges offered my youngest half off tuition if he maintained a 3.0."
Very True. My son went to a private university, undergrad and grad. My daughter is just finishing her first 4 years at a public university.
I told my kids I’d cover tuition and they could work and pick up the rest. I had only one fully-paid tuition plan that covered 4 years, that I originally purchased for my son when he was 6 months old. His private school had so much money available that we just paid cash there and used the pre-paid plan for my daughter’s more expensive public school. CSA
My son had excellent grades but it only shaved off about $4000 out of $80,000. I’m not complaining, it was well worth it and I know there were scholarships given to kids that really needed it. One was a Viet Nam refugee class mate. He wanted to be a doctor and go back to Viet Nam to help. I said I would pay for under graduate but the only thing I said was not just a psychology degree-add something to it like biology, chemistry, business, math, etc., which he did. Seems to me it could at least be tax deductible but that’s another rant.
They didn’t allow cars on campus and he wanted his car there. Needed a permit and had to park it in a special lot. He was only 15 miles away and I would have picked him up anytime but I understand-I want my car close too. I suppose there are things I don’t know and maybe don’t ever want to know.
Harvard and a few other universities hand out scholarships based on financial need. You get accepted to Harvard and family income is less then $75k then tuition/room and board is free. They no longer give academic scholarships for undergrad education.