At those rates in 1920, I doubt that many could afford such an education.
My ChemE degree from an in-state, non-ivy league university cost me $75 per quarter in the early sixties. It went up to $120 per quarter for in-state students later on. $30 for used books was about right and a good slide rule was $20.
I have 4 kids, all CA residents—one started college last month. One will start in 2 years; the other two are younger. I used Excel to calculate how much it will cost my husband and myself to send our 4 children to the University of California, assuming 4 years only for completion (these days most students seem to take 5 years), no grad school, including housing and food and books and fees, and assuming a 6% increase in everything every year. (My financial planner says we should assume 7%.) Our kids will qualify for no Financial Aid other than one unsubsidized $5500 loan per year, and none are athletes.
The total cost for 4 kids at UC: $700,000.