This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/rpi by /u/Klipnockyrocks on 2025-10-08 19:03:58+00:00.
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: 60 Years Ago
What has changed at RPI since the first class of boomers attended?
| Year | 1965 | 2024 | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition & Fees: | $1885 | $64,081 | 34x |
| Double room (Hall Hall): | $345 | $9,650 | 28x |
| Meal Plan (20 meals): | $585 | $8,470 | 15x |
| Books & Supplies: | $120 | $1,350 | 11X |
| Total: | $2945 | $83,551 | 28X |
| Work-study wage: | $2.15 | ~$14.00 | 7X |
| Avg grad starting salary: | $7,800 | $85,000 | 11X |
(Then as now, the starting salaries may be unreliable?)
Conclusion: A current RPI education costs 28x times more than the boomer’s education. Current grads only get 11x times greater starting salary.
Another observation: There were three pay phones on the ground floor of each freshman dorm for the occupants. Most students used them to make collect calls to their parents. All students used simple methods of avoiding long distance phone charges such as prearranged codes for using the “Collect call from John Doe” query. A lot of info could be encoded in the callers name. However there were stories about EE students who knew how to get free phone calls using “Captain Crunch Whistles” or “blue boxes”.
There are more observations at Kliprock’s Substack
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