How Much Was Tuition at Ohio State University in 1995?

So, remember those boxes and boxes and boxes of drawings, writings and various doodles I found at my parent's house a couple years back?

Well, every year or so, I sort through these boxes in an attempt to throw away a lot of old junk, debris and miscellaneous papers that are not very nostalgic or are, pretty much, useless relics of my past that really aren't going to contribute to any future creative endeavors...or blog posts.

Well, take a look see at what I found last night. It's my tuition bill from Ohio State University circa 1995...

(click image to enlarge)

First let me be the first to say ONLY $358.00 FUCKING DOLLARS PER QUARTER!!!

I know. I know.

Let me be the first to highlight the FFP (Freshman Foundation Program) grant, which was awarded to me based on the fact that I'm a minority. Yep, you heard that right...I'm an Appalachian White. And, thanks to being raised in the Ohio Valley, I had a good amount of my college paid for (thank God!) by simply getting good grades!

(Come to think of it, I should talk about my minority adventure in a later post).

That said, take away the grant, and my total tuition bill would only be $1,032 per quarter. Although I was on the five year program, let's simply assume I was a kick-ass four year student and multiply that full-time amount times 12 (four years over three quarter periods - Autumn, Winter, Spring) and you have a grand total of $12,384 (or 3,096 per year). Now, keep in mind, that's not including room and board. This is just straight college tuition.

Not too shabby, compared to today's average in-state tuition of $8,244 at public schools and $28,500 at private schools.

Shortly before I started college, my grandfather passed away and left me a sum of $10,000 (give or take a $1,000) that I decided to use to pay for college. This nice gift - not to mention my mom working at Kroger's for four years to help me out with rent and other expenses - allowed me to have a $0 balance when I exited Ohio State in the summer of 95.

However, those nasty credit card bills continued to plague me for a decade or so.

So, this isn't a bragging post. It's more of a shock to the system that school, well, life in general is pretty fucking expensive nowadays. And, most students, will probably have a huge student loan to pay come graduation time.

In my opinion, that sucks...especially for my kids.