More people go to college now than 40 years ago; the price is high because of the easy credit that makes it more accessible now, not less.
As for healthcare, I guess you had a higher chance of being able to see a doctor back then, but they wouldn't be able to treat your illness as effectively as today so it's a tossup depending on what ails you.
Housing is totally fucked now, I give you that.
Diplomas were more accessible. Education has never been cheaper.
This isn't an attack on your point, since what people really want are the diplomas (and the comfy middle-class jobs they led to), I'm just pointing out that everything that runs on information transfer[1] is incomparably cheaper in 2020 than in 1980. The college tuition problem isn't an economics of information transfer problem, it's an economics of status transfer problem.
[1] All of which you dismiss as "hollow digital toys" somewhat unfairly I feel, but I don't actually know enough to have an informed opinion on 1980 vs 2020, so I won't get into it.
In the states where the "elites" are, housing and participation in the economy is dramatically limited.
I was a child then, and I vaguely remember easy access to GPs, but specialists required travel. Long travel.
A smaller portion of the population went to college. Seems more accessible now.
Would I trade my iphone to be able to own a house and have my children go to college? Of course! Who wouldn't!?
In 1985, in-state tuition and fees at UC Berkeley cost $1,296/year[0] (inflation-adjusted that would be $3,052 in 2020 dollars) Today, it actually costs $14,000/year[1] (plus an extra $16k room and board, but let's compare apples to apples).
[0] https://www.dailycal.org/2014/12/22/history-uc-tuition-since...
[1] https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/tuition-financi...