>This is an important distinction because, when people pay for college, they're not comparing it with the cost of other goods and services (which is what CPI measures), but whether they can afford it, based on their parents' current/past income, or their own future expected income.

>[...] Wages for many people haven't kept up with CPI, so a higher nominal net cost still makes college less affordable.

Wages have kept up with CPI, at least for the period that The Economist mentioned: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q

I suppose you could claim that wages for everyone hasn't kept up with inflation/tuition rises, but that's not the claim that The Economist is addressing and is basically cherry-picking.