<p>jnm123-ucbalumnus’s issue is that he lives in CA and is under the impression that the rest of the country is just like where he lives and can’t fathom that other parts of the country have great schools and do things differently then he does. This comes out in pretty much every post he makes. I’m sure that a lot of people in CA do commute to school every day but around here, that just isn’t the case nor is it the case in any town around us. If you take community colleges out of the equation, CA would probably have a similar experience, however, more people in CA go the CC route to start then they do here. </p>
<p>Yes, the middle class, and I will use that for salaries above the national average of $50,000 because in a lot of areas $50K is poverty level and in others you are closer to upper class because of cost of living, is in a tough spot for funding education but it really hasn’t changed any over the years. In 1980 the middle class salary was about $38,000 with families making over $75K considered upper class. Affording a college education on that salary was just as difficult then as it was now and financial aid was not given out at that salary range, other that loans.</p>