Possible Kings Island trip, any tips or recomendations?

And minimum wage at the time was $3.35.

Which probably says something about expectations and the $15 an hour crowd or something similar to Jeff's 'crushing' debt comment.

I dunno.

You guys are forgetting about the cost of college tuition that absolutely inflated. The cost of a full year in Yale in the 1981-1982 school year was $748. The cost of a year now is $45,800 plus an extra $18,000 in other expenses. The interest rates don't mean much when the price for college has increased so drastically.

Go Intamin said:

The cost of a year now is $45,800 plus an extra $18,000 in other expenses.

At least. I suspect it's actually more. The other Ivies definitely are. But that's the "list" price. Very few actually pay that. My daughter starts college next month, I can assure you that anyone making an upper-middle class income or lower isn't paying anything near that. My experience has been that college can be incredibly affordable. As long as you're a desirable student (merit aid) and you take advantage of FAFSA and need-based aid, the cost of college is very manageable. I suspect the cost is prohibitive for those that are less than desireable students who are sort of forced to "pay their way in" to college. But that veers off into a whole different discussion about the merits of college and the emphasis we've placed on it and whether it's the best route and all of that.

I get the point though, it's not $748. Although I have no idea where the heck you got that number because this article from 1981 puts it around $10,000 for the upper tier colleges. But still, point taken.

Interestingly, in our college process this past year, we found that with aid factored in, the Ivies were some of the cheapest colleges to attend...you just have to get in.

^ I got that number from a very quick search on a probably not very reliable website, but the point and general idea is still there.

I did the math, and adjusting for inflation, average tuition is about 10% more than what I paid (again, 21 years ago). In fact, if you use my school as an example, tuition, room and board was $16k when I graduated, or $25k adjusting for inflation. Their 16-17 total is going to be $30k. And to Gonch's point, no one other than the kids of rich people ever pay full price because of grants, scholarships, credits, etc. Furthermore, if consider the cost of borrowing was literally more than double back then, it's pretty much a wash.

Paisley - If you are still looking for an older motel there is one in Lebanon that we stayed at 2 years ago called the Shaker Inn that was nice and clean. It was only about a 15 min drive from the park.