How do I estimate what things cost in 1958?

Littlebit66

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Hi I need some advice. My WIP takes place in the mid 1950's to 1960's America and I'm doing research to make sure the scenes are realistic. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how much things cost. For example, I want to start the story with my MC at a boarding prep school in California in 1958. Current tuition rates are $47,000 per year for room/board and education. How do I estimate how much it would cost in '58? My character comes from a family that has moderate financial success (the family owns and runs 3 restaurants). I'm trying to make sure that it would not be impossible for his family to afford the tuition. If it helps, my MC is also very intelligent, Hispanic, and was recommended for admittance by his elementary principal to the headmaster. Would there have been scholarships for minorities to attend a prep boarding school? When I look up tuition rates in the 50's, I keep getting information about college and university tuition rates.
 

MythMonger

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My character comes from a family that has moderate financial success (the family owns and runs 3 restaurants). I'm trying to make sure that it would not be impossible for his family to afford the tuition.

His family could always take out a loan with one or more of the restaurants as collateral.
 

Littlebit66

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Cool, I like that! At the beginning of the 1st chapter, MC has just gotten the news that he won the school's scholarship for tuition at Berkley college and he's happy to know that his family won't need to take on the financial burden. It even fits in with the motivation by the evil uncle why he later refuses to help MC, blaming him for the family's financial problems.
 

Littlebit66

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PS Thanks for the tip MythMonger.

PPS. I love the artwork in your avatar, "D'aulaires' Book of Greek Myths" is one of my prized books.
 

Maryn

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Littlebit, this is a perfect example of one of the things that's a pain to get right, but you should anyway. (My family jokes that I'd have to do a fair amount of research to write an autobiography--which isn't funny because it's true.) Why? Because it's entirely possible your readers will know what it cost in 1958 and if you're wildly off, they'll assume you didn't do your homework. That bad part is, they're right.

Identify a few California boarding schools which have been around a while and make some calls. Explain you're an author seeking to get this pesky detail correct, and need to speak to a public information person, if they have one.

Most people are willing to do a fair bit of work to give authors what they need.

Make sure you get the names of the people who helped, and list them in acknowledgements.

Maryn, shy enough that this kind of this is hard--but she does it anyway
 

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http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

Try this inflation calculator. If your $47,000 per year is accurate, that would be around $5710 in 1958.

That's a useful tool for things that have increased in price more or less in line with inflation. But a lot of things have not. Many everyday goods - bread, milk etc. have increased significantly less than you'd expect, while other things have increased dramatically more. I don't know about the US, but in the UK, boarding school fees are one of the things that have risen sharply above inflation.
 

PorterStarrByrd

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Back in them days, unless your parents were rich, you usually worked your way through college, and came out not owing much. If they were rich, they didn't worry much about how much. That inflation estimation looks pretty realistic, maybe a little high.
 

King Neptune

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In addition to calling, or instead, you might look at websites; some have historic information. If you don't find any good data, then try using an inflation index, or try using 3.33% per year for inflation in the U.S. as far back as about 1825.

U.S. inflation index
http://www.usinflationcalculator.co...and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/

In your case divide the jan. 2014 index by the Jan/ 1958 index to get the multiple since then. Then divide today's cost by that factor.
28.6 2014
233.91 1958 8.178881119
2014 cost $10,000 / 8.178881119 = 1222.66 in 1958 dollars. That seems a little high, but the government has tried to downplay inflation.
 

mccardey

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I don't know if this is what you're after, but I always check that kind of thing in the promotion or advertising of the day. Old magazines and newspapers are great. (Also great for giving you a taste of the times.)

Government reports are also good - they tend to go back a very long way.

First approach on that kind of thing, for me, is a good librarian.

:Hug2: good librarians.
 

CassandraW

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Would there have been scholarships for minorities to attend a prep boarding school?

I wasn't around in 1958. But I'd bet that rather than there being scholarships to help minorities attend a private prep boarding school, unfortunately there probably would have been some prejudice at work to keep them out.
 

Siri Kirpal

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Unfortunately, Cassandra is correct. Minorities were kept out of preppie schools until the late '60s...and even then. Unless you're talking about Catholic parochial schools, which would have been okay with Hispanics.

Says someone born in 1953.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

King Neptune

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I wasn't around in 1958. But I'd bet that rather than there being scholarships to help minorities attend a private prep boarding school, unfortunately there probably would have been some prejudice at work to keep them out.

Scholarships would have been granted for scholarship, and being a minority would have had nothing to do with it. The matter of linking the two matters, as a general matter, started sometime in the 1960's, which is not to say that there weren't specific scholarships for people of specified national origin.
 

Littlebit66

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Littlebit, this is a perfect example of one of the things that's a pain to get right, but you should anyway. (My family jokes that I'd have to do a fair amount of research to write an autobiography--which isn't funny because it's true.) Why? Because it's entirely possible your readers will know what it cost in 1958 and if you're wildly off, they'll assume you didn't do your homework. That bad part is, they're right.

Identify a few California boarding schools which have been around a while and make some calls. Explain you're an author seeking to get this pesky detail correct, and need to speak to a public information person, if they have one.

Most people are willing to do a fair bit of work to give authors what they need.

Make sure you get the names of the people who helped, and list them in acknowledgements.

Maryn, shy enough that this kind of this is hard--but she does it anyway

Maryn, you're absolutely right about this. For me the fun part about trying to write this story is doing the research to get the details right. The scary part for me is calling up people I don't know to ask for info, I keep thinking they're going to laugh and say "I don't have the time for this" and hang up. But heck, I'm almost 50, it's time to challenge my fears. Do you recommend that it's best to approach people by phone or by email? Cold calling seems intrusive but on the other hand, sending emails gives strangers the option to ignore it.
 
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Littlebit66

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There are tons of Mexicans with blonde hair -- so say your character has an Americanized name and looks, so she/he gets in to the school.

Not for this particular character, he has dark hair and eyes, light brown skin and a Spanish surname. Plus it would be out of his character to deny his roots.

His sister on the other hand, has dark hair and green eyes and much lighter skin and is mistaken to be white (which happens in my own family in real life). She will sometimes use this to "go undercover" when she goes on a quest for revenge.
 

Littlebit66

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Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Unfortunately, Cassandra is correct. Minorities were kept out of preppie schools until the late '60s...and even then. Unless you're talking about Catholic parochial schools, which would have been okay with Hispanics.

Says someone born in 1953.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Rats, I thought that might be the case while I was outlining the story. I was hoping that at some prep schools students of color (such as Hispanics or Asians) might be accepted if they come from wealthier families or children of diplomats or politicians. Since my MC is neither, this may not work. I thought the option of having the family live somewhere in a more middleclass area with a more predominately white population and being middleclass would work. Back to plan B of putting him in a parochial school and more research.

While doing research about Mexican Americans in California in the 20th century, I learned that there seemed to be a strange contradiction to how M/As were identified. Depending how much Spanish or Indian blood you had would determine whether American settlers in California viewed Mexicans as either white or Indian. In some census records, Mexicans are listed as white; in particular I was looking up 1920's records for boys in juvenile detention centers and despite having Spanish surnames the boys are listed as being white. In the 40's there was a CA court case which stuck down the laws against white people marrying black people. This this particular court case, the litigant was a Mexican woman who wanted to marry her black fiancé. Because she was technically seen as being "white" they were refused a marriage license.

There's no denying that there was a lot of discrimination against Latinos in CA during the earlier part of the 1900s, particularly in education where areas with large populations of Latinos often got the fewest resources.
 

Littlebit66

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In addition to calling, or instead, you might look at websites; some have historic information. If you don't find any good data, then try using an inflation index, or try using 3.33% per year for inflation in the U.S. as far back as about 1825.

U.S. inflation index
http://www.usinflationcalculator.co...and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/

In your case divide the jan. 2014 index by the Jan/ 1958 index to get the multiple since then. Then divide today's cost by that factor.
28.6 2014
233.91 1958 8.178881119
2014 cost $10,000 / 8.178881119 = 1222.66 in 1958 dollars. That seems a little high, but the government has tried to downplay inflation.

This is another great source, thank you!

Thank you everybody for your help, everyone has been so nice to help this newbie out!
 

Karen Junker

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I have a distant cousin whose family is from Arkansas and moved to California in the 40s-50s. Her dad married her mom, who was half hispanic, and never knew it. My cousin only found out from her older sister after their mom died. In that case, the family had changed their name to sound French.

I do know of people who are Hispanic who pass for white -- even with latin sounding names -- they say they are Spanish and not from Mexico (apparently this appeases the European-centric bigot in a lot of people). In fact, my former brother in law was one of these people, until about 15 years ago when he suddenly declared that he was actually Apache and began making flutes and attending pow-wows.
 

Flounder32

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Ok. I got some info from my dad. He graduated high school in 1964 and went to the University of Texas. It's not a boarding prep school in 1958 California, but maybe it will give you a starting point.

"My tuition 1964-68 was $50 per semester for as many hours as you liked. I took 18 hours my first semester for only $50. Lab and service fees were extra. It cost about $125 total in September. That included athletic and cultural performance, newspaper and annual. About $85 total for spring semester.

Room varied widely. Married apartment for us in '66 was $25 per month water and gas included. These were Spartan old Army barracks. But three room plus bath with shower and great friends and memories.

Food varied. I could never afford on campus meal ticket. Did get two meals a day at boarding house for $55 month. School days only.

Skipped a lot of meals and depended on friends first two years. Then Mom and I would shop and keep tally of $$ so would have enough at checkout. Hamburger 3 lbs. $1. Kraft Mac & Cheese 19 cents.
But we still ate out on weekends and bought quart of Lone Star for 50 cents.

I made 1.25 hour grading and tutoring. 2.75 hour driving concrete truck in summer. OT after 40 hours and double time Sat. and holidays. "

Hope this helps a little bit. And if not it was still interesting getting this info from my dad.
 

Deb Kinnard

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My tuition in 1969 at a state-supported school was about $1,000 per year (but I didn't pay it -- I was on a scholarship). Room and board (3 inedible meals per day) at the dorm was $485 per semester. I came away with virtually no loans and a degree other than the one I started out pursuing, but that's a different story altogether...

There were few private schools where I live during the 50s and 60s. Those there were, were parochial and they were open-handed about minorities who could afford the tuition or get a break in some other fashion. Mind you, in my suburb there was one black kid in the entire high school of 1500+ kids.

When as a teenager I was sent to the store to buy a gallon of milk, I was expected to bring the change back from the dollar. I seem to remember about $0.85. Bread was $0.35 per loaf. There was still penny candy and a Hershey bar cost a nickel. A pay phone took a dime. Riding lessons in those days cost $10.00 an hour. I had a babysitting business to finance that, 'cause the parents balked at that one.

I don't remember what other stuff cost. Oh, no, that's not true. My dad spent $1600 and change for a brand new off the lot Volkswagen.
 

Siri Kirpal

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Okay, what I remember:

My parents bought a house in a not so great part of town (busy busy busy street) in 1959 for $20K and paid $200 a month mortgage directly to the seller. They paid it off the day I married in 1972.

This is later than your date, but gives a picture. Tuition at UCSC in 1970 was $250 per term; that included a bus pass to downtown Santa Cruz. Room and board (food edible, but not gourmet, except for local artichokes) was $400 per term. Book, supplies, sundries and gifts to family totaled maybe $200 per term.

We used to buy a gallon of apple juice for 49 cents, was shocked when it went up to 95 cents.

Gas was cheap, less than 49 cents usually.

Phone call was a dime. And phone booths were all over.

Hope that helps.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

jaksen

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For everyday items, check out old catalogues, such as the Sears and Roebuck catalogues, which go back over a hundred years. A good library might have some from that era.

I was around at this time, but too young to really remember the prices of everything. I do recall you could get a great big candy bar for a nickel, and comic books were ten cents.
 

Littlebit66

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Flounder, Siri and Deb, thank you so much for the pricing info on schools, colleges and universities for the 60's and 70's. This is a great starting point for me to continue to research for my story.