When my parents graduated from high school in 1936, a college education was too

expensive for the son of a copper miner and the daughter of a plumber.

Eighty years ago, our country was in the middle of the Great Depression and teens took

odd jobs to help put food on the table and pay the family bills. In those days no bank would

lend money to college students.

Following World War II, there was new hope for veterans, The GI bill paid for veterans

to complete their college or trade school education. My father, for example, graduated from

trade schools in Seattle and Chicago and became a journ...