My parents put me through college for my bachelor's degree, so I had no debt when I finished that and started grad school. This was in 1975, when it was easier for parents to pay for college for their kids, even if they didn't have white-collar jobs. My father was a fireman and my mother worked part-time as a school secretary, but they were very careful with money because they both grew up during the Great Depression, so they had money for things that they felt were really necessary, like building a new house when I was a kid (they paid the contractors in cash as construction proceeded), and my education. And when my father retired a couple of years after I started grad school, they paid cash for a modest co-op apartment in Florida.
Obviously, the cost of a college/university education in the USA has risen a lot more than typical salaries in the 34 years since I graduated from college. When I compare the facilities at the college where I teach now with the rather similar college that I attended in the early 1970s, I can easily see where some of that extra money goes.
Then: double-occupancy dorm rooms with a communal bathroom down the hall. Now: suites with one shared semi-private bath for two private bedrooms. (During my freshman year, I lived in a room with pull-out beds that served as sofas during the day and as beds at night!)
Then: one or two telephones in the hall on each dormitory floor, and a TV set in the dorm lounge hooked up to an antenna on the roof. Now: individual phone, cable TV and internet connections in each room.
Then: cafeteria-style dining halls where everybody went through a single serving line, and maybe had a choice of two different entrees on any given day, with "mystery meat" making a frequent appearance. Now: setups like a food court at a shopping mall, with stations for deli sandwiches, burgers, pizza, "international" fare, a traditional entree, and a dessert bar.
Then: fitness facilities consisted of a swimming pool, gymnasium and a running track around the football field. Now: all of the above plus an exercise room with treadmills and other exercise equipment, and maybe a rock-climbing wall.
Then: relatively recently-built academic buildings, dormitories, etc. had simple functional designs with painted concrete-block walls, painted metal doors and trim, linoleum floors, little wasted space, and overhead fluorescent lighting. Now: new buildings have spacious atriums, recessed lighting, plaster walls, tile or carpeted floors, and dark wood trim.
When I was in college, I didn't deal much with the administration, so I can't really compare it with what we have here. But even in the 24 years I've been here, there have been major increases in administrative staff, much more than the increase in the student population or the faculty. For a while, about 10-20 years ago, it seemed that every time someone in the administration retired, we hired two or three people to replace him (or her).
During grad school, I didn't take on any debt, either, because I was able to live on my stipend, first as a teaching assistant and later as a research assistant while I was working on my dissertation. It helped that I stayed single (didn't marry until after I had a "real job"), shared an apartment, and didn't own a car until about a year before I finished grad school.
