NEXT: Click here to go to 1985 →

Adjusted to 2014 dollars: The median U.S. household income in 1980 was $50,881, with families spending 14.9% of their income on public university ($7587 sticker price, annually) or 32.1% on private university ($16,339 sticker price, annually).

Also in 1980…

• The United States Olympic Hockey Team defeats the USSR in the Miracle on Ice
• U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces the boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow
• The eruption of Mount St. Helens kills 57 and causes $3 billion in damage
• “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” is released
• Pac Man is released in Japan
• The first 24-hour news channel Cable News Network (CNN) is launched
• A record number of viewers tune into “Dallas” to learn who shot JR. (it was Kristin)
• Led Zeppelin breaks up due to the death of drummer John Bonham
• “Kramer vs Kramer” wins Best Picture
• The #1 song of 1980 is “Call Me” by Blondie

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College costs: 1980

by Bridge Staff, Bridge Michigan
February 24, 2015

<h1>College costs: 1980</h1> <p class="byline">by Bridge Staff, Bridge Michigan <br />February 24, 2015</p> <p class="morecoverage"><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26444">NEXT: Click here to go to 1985 →</a></p> <p>Adjusted to 2014 dollars: The median U.S. household income in 1980 was $50,881, with families spending 14.9% of their income on public university ($7587 sticker price, annually) or 32.1% on private university ($16,339 sticker price, annually).</p> <div class="resp-iframe"> <div class="player"></div> </div> <div class="resp-iframe"> <div class="player"></div> </div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Also in 1980…</h2> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>The United States Olympic Hockey Team defeats the USSR in the Miracle on Ice</li> <li>U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces the boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow</li> <li>The eruption of Mount St. Helens kills 57 and causes $3 billion in damage</li> <li>“Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” is released</li> <li>Pac Man is released in Japan</li> <li>The first 24-hour news channel Cable News Network (CNN) is launched</li> <li>A record number of viewers tune into “Dallas” to learn who shot JR. (it was Kristin)</li> <li>Led Zeppelin breaks up due to the death of drummer John Bonham</li> <li>“Kramer vs Kramer” wins Best Picture</li> <li>The #1 song of 1980 is “Call Me” by Blondie</li> </ul> <div class="resp-iframe"> <div class="player"></div> </div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Pick a year:</h2> <figure class="wp-block-table"> <table class="has-fixed-layout"> <tbody> <tr> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26410">1975</a></td> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26429">1980</a></td> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26444">1985</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26460">1990</a></td> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26472">1995</a></td> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26493">2000</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26690">2005</a></td> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26503">2010</a></td> <td><a href="http://bridgemi.com/?p=26698">2014</a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </figure> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/talent-education/college-costs-1980/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://bridgemi.com&quot;&gt;Bridge Michigan&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/bridgemi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/cropped-android-chrome-192x192-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://bridgemi.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=10617&amp;amp;ga4=G-1E2G9MSHX5&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://bridgemi.com/talent-education/college-costs-1980/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bridgemi.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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