Paying for college in 1945 (the year I
entered) was a whole different story from what our children are paying for our
grandchildren’s college in 2016. My recollection is that I figured my total
cost for college, including transportation between Texas and Illinois, all
tuition and room and board, came to about $600.00 a year. That was because the
church charged us NO tuition as we were all studying to become commissioned
teaching ministers on the official roster of the church. And because, according
to the US government, $1.00 in 1945 is equivalent to $1.32 in 2016. My
recollection is that my father (who
provided most of the money) was making about $3,000.00 a year. Yet he sent in
all the money for room and board. My two sisters, Erna and Leona, who “went to
work” rather than go to college themselves and helped pay my fees for four
years at Concordia Academy, had both married and were no longer providing funds
for me. Costs for daily activities, laundry, books etc. were up to me
So, of course, I worked over the summer. The
first couple years I worked as a waiter at Wukash Brothers Café in Austin. The
last two years I worked at constructions jobs. And work I did! I was at the
lowest level of skills and pay. I think I was paid 40 cents an hour and spent
most of my time digging foundation trenches and then fabricating the steel
foundations. It was often over 100 degrees of Texas heat. I wore shorts and no
shirt. I was turned a very dark tan and my muscles were as hard as the steel I
fabricated. I also learned about the language and conversation of people who
were far removed from “church work” and the curses and oaths that surrounded
very graphic descriptions of sexual activity were, at first, very foreign to my
ears.
I remember one of the first little jobs I took
on a Saturday in River Forest. It was to install storm windows in a
private home. I didn’t even know what a “storm window” was, but the two female
residents of the home who hired me were very kind and forgiving and we did
eventually get all those storm windows installed on both levels of that big
two-story house.
By far the best job I had during the
school was “setting pins” in the bowling alleys of the private Oak Park Club. I
was responsible for 2 adjoining lanes from 7:00-11:00 pm. Obviously that
was before there were pin-setting machines and so it was all hand labor. While
I was responsible for the lanes up to 11:00 pm it was also agreed
that if no one was there after 10:00 pm I could take off and head
back to the dorm. I was paid $4.00 a night and often worked two nights a week and
in those days $8.00 was enough to take care of my incidental expenses. Obviously
“incidental “could not allow for any restaurant meals, cigarettes, alcohol, et
sim and very little to take the el to the Chicago Loop and just enjoy the
sights.
The good news: I graduated from college
without debts (other than the $100.00 I borrowed to start grad school) and it
was good financial discipline! It blows my mind that last night when Jane
and I went out (as guests of family and friends) our dinner bill for the two of
came exactly to the same dollar amount as what my salary was for my first month
of teaching in a Lutheran school.
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