And I chose to go to a college usually that I could live at home between 18 and about 25 years old. However, I lived several different places during this time partly because I also had full or part time jobs especially from age 20 to 25 years old. Then my live in girlfriend got pregnant and we eventually got married and worked (both of us) at the Same Electronics company while she was pregnant. So, I gave up my plan of becoming a psychologist then at age 25 to take care of my wife and son.
So, there was a lot of moving around to places like Encinitas and Vista and Hawaii and Mt. Shasta and all sorts of things like this when I first got married and was a Dad too.
18 to 35 would have been 1966 to 1983 for me.
So, going to college for me at least wasn't about getting student loans for the most part but living as inexpensively as possible while paying any tuition by working usually along the way. So, I usually worked for any tuition I paid and paid it up front with no student loans. However, I do think I got some Pell Grants along the way too at some points.
Also, from 1980 to 1985 I built my own home on 2 1/2 acres of land during this time and lived on it most of this time too with my family.
I was thinking how much the 1970s remind me of these times when Gasoline became 5 times more expensive within that decade too from 20 cents a gallon for Regular gas to 1 dollar a gallon which devastated the middle Class and poor like now too. However, then there were more social nets to catch people then than now so more people fall through the cracks now become homeless and die here in the U.S. than then.
Also, when I was 20 years old I worked first part time for the Glendale Board of Education in their Computer department while in college there and then full time at two different jobs in North Hollywood which allowed me enough money to buy myself a brand new 1968 Camaro if I stayed at home and didn't have to pay rent then. However, to save money on gas for college when I returned to college in San Diego County I bought a 1966 VW Bug which gave me 30 miles per gallon and then I put about 130,000 miles on this Car from about 1969 to 1974 when we sold it to move to Hawaii with my wife and newborn son. So, people could actually afford to drive 26,000 miles a year then easily because gas was so much less expensive then than now too.
Because even though gas was 20 cents a gallon for regular in 1969 it was only 50 to 55 cents a gallon by 1974 when I sold my 1966 VW Bug to move to Hawaii with my wife and son. And I kept the 1968 Camaro in the family also until 1978 when my son was 4 and basically traded it for a Truck which was a Toyota Longbed SR5 truck that was a 1976 then for my work. Then I was a single father and living in San Diego and had gotten my Landscaping Contractor's license in California and worked with Landscape Architects designing and building custom landscapes for more expensive houses in Rancho Santa Fe, and La Jolla then. So, ever since then I have tended to own 1 or more businesses because I found I liked owning businesses more than working for other people. I think if you are smart enough you likely will find the same thing in your life today.
