So tuition and texts could be paid with 150 hours of on-campus labor. Let's call that 15% part-time. Someone on 20 hour/week 50% part-time would therefore have wages left over for things like food, clothing, and housing, and time left over for actually being a student.

Now, tuition and text can only be paid with 100% or less of a full-time wage job if you are an in-state student at a public university, or attend a community college. And then, no time or money left over for lectures, study, or basic survival.

In terms of student labor hours per semester, college tuition and textbooks have increased an average of 4%-5% per year from JoeAltmaier's 1976 numbers to 2020. Due to advances in efficiency, infrastructure, and technology, that metric should be decreasing every year for most goods. Some see large downward jumps as machines are invented that allow one person to do jobs that formerly required more laborers.

What the hell have universities been doing? Do they not all have economics departments and business schools?