system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: I saw a post about college tuition being $152 in the 70s, and inflation means that’s around $700 now. What about income rates?

I know college is severely overpriced, but wouldn’t it be a lot harder to reach $152 back then If that was the case? This is without research, but weren’t wages super super low?
gpt
The median income of American families in 1970 was $9,870 and minimum wage was $1.45 per hour.  Average annual tuition at a public university in 1970 was $405, and at a private university $1,792.  This means a year of public uni tuition was 4.1% of median annual income, and a year of private uni tuition was 18.1% of median annual income.  It took 280 hours working at minimum wage to cover public tuition (about 7 weeks of full time work), and 1,236 hours to cover private school tuition (about 31 weeks).

The median income of American families in 2020 is $78,500, and minimum wage (federal) is $7.25 per hour.  Average annual tuition at a public university in 2020 is $11,260 for in-state students, and at a private university $41,426.  This means a year of public uni tuition for in-state students is 14.3% of median annual income, and a year of private uni tuition is 52.8% of median annual income.  It takes 1,553 hours working at federal minimum wage to cover public tuition (about 39 weeks of full time work), and 5,714 hours to cover private school tuition (about 2 years and 39 weeks).

So while wages and income have indeed risen in the past 50 years, tuition has increased much, much faster.  Families must now set aside nearly 15% of their annual income to cover a single in-state college attendee's tuition at an average public college, whereas 50 years ago they could set aside 4% to cover the same thing.  And that's just tuition - housing and other costs at uni have also increased dramatically.  And given the even more dramatic increase in private uni tuition, such schools are simply out of reach to most families without massive financial aid packages.