Times have changed

In 1966, the average cost for two semesters of tuition at a four-year U.S. college was $574, not including room and board, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

At that time, if a teenager worked a minimum-wage job ($1.25/hour) full-time during the summer and 10 hours a week during the school year and never missed an hour of work, they would earn enough to pay for the entirety of their yearly tuition and still have almost half of their earnings left over, not accounting for taxes and other expenses.

Fast forward to 2017. Working the same number of hours at the current Wisconsin minimum wage ($7.25/hour), the teen’s earnings wouldn’t even pay for a single semester’s tuition at most UW schools.

If that teen had to pay out-of-state tuition, that year’s worth of work would still leave them $5,000 short of paying for a semester at even the cheapest of Wisconsin’s public colleges, and more than $18,600 short of paying for a full year — before room and board.

The yearly cost of college nationwide has increased by 1575% since 1966, more than double the rate of inflation. Minimum wage, however, has only increased by 480% in that time, lagging more than 25% behind the rate of inflation.