Well, not to wax too nostalgic, but...
I grew up in Brooklyn. My folks were too poor to send me to a "pay" or "sleep-away" college. So, like tens of thousands of other non-rich New Yorkers, I applied to the City University system, which offered free tuition to qualified NYC high school graduates. I chose Brooklyn College, which (along with City, Hunter and Queens) was at the hub of the system. I had to go to work full-time immediately after graduating high school, so I went at night. They charge tuition in night school: $9 per credit! I paid it. Took me seven years to earn a B.A. at night. Then I enrolled in Brooklyn College graduate school, also at night. They charged all of $35 a credit. Took me five years to earn a M.A. That was then.
When my son graduated from Skidmore College in '92, his tuition was $23k. My daughter enrolled in Tulane University that year; her tuition was $22k. Then she transferred to Rutgers (New Jersey's state university), where the tuition for residents was about $9k. She said Rutgers was an infinitely more serious school than Tulane.