I think that depends on if you go out of state or in state. My alma mater has frozen in state tuition for at least 10 years now, maybe longer. Plenty of flagship in state schools are only around 12k-15k a year. In a world where you can now crack 15 an hour unskilled now while living with the parents over the summer you can probably cover a lot of that almost like it was in ye olden times.

Seems like things have been relatively flat for the last decade, but costs are roughly double what they were 30 years ago.

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/20/nx-s1-5600854/college-costs-h...