My parents have started to clean out my childhood home in preparation to downsize and they stumbled upon a letter in my grandmother’s handwriting. It’s a draft of a formal letter she would send to seek scholarship funds for my mother (17 at the time) to go to college and study nursing at the University of Michigan.
It reads:
We have three children, Victoria (17, applicant), Carol (9), and Brian (7). All live dependent on one income. My husband is 39 and I, 42. We plan to give the other two children a college education, also.
In 1967, my husband earned $15,000 and in 1968, he will earn approximately $13,000. His base pay gross is $8,900, all above this was overtime. Overtime was reduced in 1968 and we expect none at all in 1969. We depleted our savings in 1968 to pay off our new house. We have $100 in bonds, $100 in the credit union. We owe $1,500 on a 65 Mercury and a 69 Volkswagen - purchased for her to drive to college. We also have a loan of $1,200 on a house trailer.
We, the parents, have $6,000 life insurance. We are saving money now and will be able to contribute a substantial amount, however, since she wishes to get a degree in nursing and will attend U of M or Wayne, we do not feel that we can attain this without her getting a scholarship of some type.
—————————————
I know, right?!? Where to begin with this! First, my mother knew what she wanted to do from the time she was 17. Holy cannoli. She would go on to scrape together all the scholarships she could and would indeed enroll at University of Michigan, where she met a fellow student working in the cafeteria (hairnets are so alluring) who was also there on full scholarship.
Second, I looked up household income in 1967. A base pay of $8,900 is below the bottom fifth percentile and $15,000 doesn’t even reach the second. No wonder family stories always had my grandfather out working constantly. Raising a family of 5 on that, especially as opportunities for overtime were cut back? Yikes.
Third, look how cute my Aunt Carol and Uncle Brian are in their little 1960s snowsuits! I mean, C’MON.
And lastly, here is direct evidence of the impact of upward social mobility in America. Six years after this letter was written, my mom would become the first person in her family to graduate college. She would marry that guy from the cafeteria, who was also the first in his family to get a college education. She would get a Masters from Wayne State, they’d start white collar careers, have a couple kids and enough financial stability to send those kids to college and - get this - only 40 years from the time that letter was written - I had my college degree and was working for one of the biggest tech companies in the country.
In just two generations, my grandmother’s determination to show her kids every opportunity for a good life made college the expectation, not the exception, in our family. Their net worth was rolled up into the family home, a couple cars, a house trailer and about $100 bucks in the bank. My grandfather climbed telephone poles as a technician in every flavor of Michigan weather, day and night. I type words onto a computer and get paid to write things that I’m passionate about. How does that make ANY sense?
The conditions that made this possible are fading and it’s getting harder for a family of 5 to live on stagnant wages, ridiculous tuition rates and challenging healthcare scenarios. Thinking a lot about this as we enter the 2020 election.