<p>Probably, I started 1973 through 1976. Lived on the top floor of Muir dorms, the tall one that looks over La Jolla Farms.</p>
<p>But I only lived in the dorms one year. Somehow lucked out that my assigned dorm roommate at Muir was the only child of a Hollywood Producer. She got her Dad to rent a huge house down on the beach in Del Mar for the rest of our college years. I believe that my monthly rent for my room in the house was $175/month.</p>
<p>There was a guest house in the back and my roommate and I cooked up a scheme where we ranked the cutest guys in the whole school and invited 2 of them to rent the guest house - and how could they turn that down 
This ensured that all of their cute surfer friends were hanging at our house all the time.</p>
<p>^^^Small world. Tenaya or Tioga or something. I remember folks used to run a rope from one dorm to the other and shimmy across. I also attended Muir but I applied at the last minute and couldn’t get into the dorm - stayed in the Third College dorms. Had several friends who lived over at Muir though. </p>
<p>Did you ever eat at the Carnegie Pizza on Carmel Valley Road? I worked there for a few years. For some reason that’s what sticks in my mind. I was a biophysics major, don’t remember much of my classes. It was still sort of the hippie days after all.</p>
<p>Oh well, I suppose everybody else on here isn’t that interested in my reminiscenses. :)</p>
<p>1970s. I never thought about where I would go to college until I met with the school guidance counselor senior year. She said, “You’re applying to HYP.” I said, “Really? Okay, I guess.” I applied a few other places, too. U Mich was my safety. I submitted the applications and didn’t think about them again until April when the acceptances came. (I got in everywhere I applied.)</p>
<p>I remember my father showing me the tuition bill senior year. It was $5400. I don’t long for my lost youth, but I do long for prices in the four figure range…</p>
<p>Early 1960’s. All the advice about colleges that I ever got came from an uncle who was a college professor. I don’t recall getting any advice from my high school counselor or any teachers. Going with my uncle’s list, and finding the names of some other colleges that I had heard of, I went to the public library to find some college catalogues so I could get the addresses of the admissions offices. Then I wrote to about a half dozen colleges to request a catalogue and “application and forms.” I never visited any college prior to applying, or, for that matter, prior to attending the one that I ended up going to. (I had been on the campuses of a couple of universities to attend sporting events, but these weren’t visits related to making applications.)</p>
<p>Tests? I took the SAT’s and (iirc) two Achievement Tests: Advanced Math and Spanish. I didn’t study for the exams. It never occurred to me that I could study for them, or how I might learn about them. So I went into the exams cold. I did OK but decided I could do better, and after repeating a month or so later (still without any studying or study guide) I improved my combined score by about 150 points.</p>
<p>The first time I saw my college was when I got off the train after I arrived for orientation. Orientation, however, did not occur on campus but instead at a retreat or camp on the coast, which we traveled to by bus after first checking into our dormitories. At the retreat the freshman students, guided by several upper class students and a few counselors from the school, received an introduction to the culture and curriculum of the college. There was lots of folk music to be heard and sung. And we had one common reading for our small-group discussions: John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty.”</p>
<p>I’m sure this approach to signing in and orienting students was unique. This was Reed College. I remember the orientation fondly. The next week we really got down to business, with our first paper due in our Hum 110 course on Saturday at noon, just 5 days after the semester started. Assignment: “What does one learn about Odysseus in the first four books of the Odyssey?” (500 words)</p>
<p>I had set off to college with my peggar pants (and stretchers to dry them on), a small travel trunk, a travel iron, a radio, and a brand new piece of fancy electronic equipment: a Smith-Corona electric typewriter that my parents paid something like $125 dollars for. In today’s dollars – inflation adjusted – this typewriter would have cost $970.</p>
<p>This college was worth every dollar of the $1,240 annual tuition (freshman year), and the room and board charge of $600 (though I rarely got up in time for breakfast). My parents paid these costs, though I did have summer jobs to help pay for my casual expenses. For any special cash needs, my mother had given me a half-dozen personal checks that she had pre-signed. I would take one of those, write in the amount of $20, and turn this into cash at the college bursar’s office.</p>
<p>I graduated in 4 years, and the rest is history. Ready to retire now.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>$1.00 in 1963 is equivalent to $7.59 in 2013, according to the [CPI</a> Inflation Calculator](<a href=“http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1&year1=1963&year2=2013]CPI”>http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1&year1=1963&year2=2013) .</p>
<p>So $1,249 tuition in 1963 would be equivalent to $9,412 today, and $600 room and board in 1963 would be equivalent to $4,554 today, for an equivalent total of $13,966. Compare to today’s Reed tuition and fees of $46,010, with room and board of $11,770, for a total of $57,780. (Neither figure includes books and other expenses.)</p>
<p>My music teacher encouraged me to apply to Northwestern so I did. Also applied to Oberlin (did not get in) and Furman (scholarship committee followed me out the door after my audition so I wrote them off as desperate!). Looked at IU but did not apply as it was scary big. My dad had gone to state school where his dad was a professor so his tuition was basically zip. He had major sticker shock and told me I could not go to NU as all their scholarships were need based and we did not qualify. He later relented and said if I got in, he would pay for it, so that’s where I went. I wanted the university experience as well as a good music school. </p>
<p>My GPA was 3.2 and I had a good SAT (NMSF and NMF). I did not take ACT as it was not required by any of the schools I applied to. I knew with the NMF I would have full in-state tuition covered so that was my safety. I heard about AP tests but I am sure our school did not offer AP classes. They talked about CLEP tests a lot, but NU did not offer credit for them. I remember Achievement Tests (now SAT II) but maybe they were not required for music majors. I didn’t take any tests that were not required!</p>
<p>I believe the majority of college students dont go to college for the right reason. I think if asked why they are going to college most people would say, To get a degree so I can get a job. This is of course a legitimate reason. Going to college in todays economy and workforce gives you a much higher chance of getting a good paying job. For those privileged enough going to college is usually the path most taken. Some may see it as the next step in life or just do it because their parents encourage it and everyone else is. But I believe the single most important factor in a college life is knowing and addressing why you are there.
Im not saying that going to school to get a degree and get a job is not a good reason to attend college but I dont think this allows you to get the most out of it. If you go because you want to further your education and expand your knowledge you will be motivated to learn. Not only learn but you will want to try new things, you will want to take interesting classes, and you will want to go out of your comfort zone. I think a lot of college students dont actually know why they are going to college. Once you can figure this out I believe it can completely change your college experience.</p>
<p>It took me a long time to realize why I was going to college. Like many middle class white Americans I had the privilege of knowing I would have the chance to go on to the next educational step. It was the thing to do where I grew up. Everyone went on to college after high school. And like them I knew I would too once I finished high school. Throughout my childhood I knew this and never had to worry. College was the next step in my life, there wasnt much thought to it. I never questioned the idea or asked why I just knew it was the next stepping-stone in a long path. Not until the summer before my freshman year of college did I ever question this notion or ask the big question of WHY?
That summer I read a quote that basically stated Know why you go to college, go to further your education and knowledge. It was obviously much better put then that and hit something in my neo cortex that made me sit there and think a while. I realized I hadnt really known why I was leaving for college in a few months. Since then this thought has motivated me throughout the year. Ive gained so much from having this philosophy that college is here to further my understanding of the world and allow me to learn more. Maybe it was just me but I felt as if no one I knew really understood the reasons they were going to go through another 4 years of schooling. I wish people sat and thought about it for a few minutes because it is incredible what the thought can do.</p>