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Total college cost per year for four kids in your grandfather's time: $10k.

Total college cost per year for four kids today: $400k.

Indeed, wages have not kept up with cost of living

While that's partly true (modulo certain exceptions such as the cost of living varying quite a bit from place to place), the comment you were replying to was making a point about the cost of college. Which has grown so much faster than general inflation that it's in its very own category.

I guess I don't see how we can meaningfully measure cost of living without taking into account cost of education.

If a salary these days only puts the kids through high school, then the standard of living that salary buys has fallen drastically in practice.

My BS comp sci degree was a waste of time, to be real. Fairly certain my first job out of college would have been appropriate for myself as a high school senior. One of my parents and two of my grandparents were programmers without needing anything more than a high school diploma. Despite the push for trades, I couldn't even get an interview without a degree even despite my experience. Add in the increase in the cost of living, stagnant wages, plus inflation and it doesn't make a pretty picture.

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