Back in the 1960s, I got a superb education for very little money. The bill for my first year at Harpur College in New York was a few hundred dollars.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
But I was going to be a teacher my entire life, so I wasn't counting on money to much.
My undergraduate education, at the City College in New York, was made possible only by the existence of that excellent free institution and the financial sacrifices of my parents.
People of my age who went to college, go into college, you know what it cost back then? Nothing or next to nothing. At the most, you had to work at Dairy Queen during the summer and that would pay for your college education.
When I was growing up, I was lucky to benefit from a first class education.
I was the only kid out of six of us to go to college, primarily because my parents could not afford it.
College is expensive; I always knew that, and I wanted to make money, partially to spend a little of it here and there, but primarily for a college savings fund.
I was a per diem floater in the same junior high school I went to. I sat in the office and made $42.50 a day, and whenever a teacher was absent, I'd substitute. I taught everything from English to auto shop.
In my family, there was one cardinal priority - education. College was not an option; it was mandatory. So even though we didn't have a lot of money, we made it work. I signed up for financial aid, Pell Grants, work study, anything I could.
I did my undergraduate work at the University of California when it was still affordable. But tuition keeps on rising.
I went to Marymount College in New York City with a lot of kids whose parents paid their way, and I wouldn't even have thought of asking my parents - they couldn't afford it, not with six kids!