Reflections on the Cost and Value of Education
I entered college 70 years ago at age 16. It was at Hampden-Sydney College. Room, board, tuition and laundry combined were $1,000. I had it only because of a bequest from a childless aunt. I traveled to and from campus by thumb. Home was on a farm in Montgomery County, Virginia.
I had no money for a sophomore year, so I returned to the farm and enrolled as a day student at Virginia Tech, which I attended two years while managing the farm. Tuition was $63 a quarter, or $189 a year, plus $1 a week contributed for morning car pool gas. I thumbed the nine miles home afternoons.
After two years at Tech I applied to the University of Richmond’s Law School. Tuition was $1,000 a year, which I did not have. I applied for a scholarship and to my surprise and glee was awarded a T. C. Williams Scholarship of $1,400 a year for the three years, covering tuition, $270 a year for a shared bedroom in a neighborhood private residence and $130 toward meals.
After my first law school year, Virginia Tech awarded me a BS degree from its Business School, a so-called combined degree, giving me credit for my first law school year as my senior college year. After a second Law School year I passed the Virginia Bar Exam which required special permission to take because I was not yet age 21. I finished law school in May 1961, standing first in my class.
So my combined college and law school degrees, acquired in six years, cost $4,370 in tuition, $4,200 covered by a scholarship.
I have two grandchildren now in college (Lacey Word a senior at the University of Tennessee and Thomas Word a sophomore at Hampden-Sydney, both Dean’s List). They attended Collegiate School in Richmond, kindergarten through grade 12. The kindergarten year for one of them cost more than my college and law school degrees combined.
I am still practicing law.