I paid my way through medical school, $800/year x 4.
Now, it's $90,000 x 4, and nobody is paying their way through that.
Apples and Oranges, we didn't have the scholarships, favorable loans, student aid etc, then as we do now. Not saying schools are not waaay overpriced, just that times have changed. Also, Doctors can now make $500k/year, much more than 40 years ago.
It's the government loan scheme, whereby students can borrow huge, unsecured debt, which has made easy money for the schools. They can raise prices with impunity because the consequences are in that student loan can, which is continually kicked down the road.
When I was in college, I remember my mom giving me a check to take to the University accounts office. The total of that check was something like $1500 that included my room at the dorm. I think that was a semester check which means the year total would’ve been around $3000. I looked it up and the same university today is $6000 for tuition and $11,000 for room and board. I was very lucky that I was one of the last classes that went through while tuition was still reasonable, even though it was considered very expensive at the time. My parents had invested in real estate that they rented out until it was time for me and my brother to go through college and then they sold it and used that to pay for our college tuition. That’s not even possible these days as everybody is mortgaged to the hilt.