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College costs: 1985

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Adjusted to 2014 dollars: The median U.S. household income in 1985 was $51,963, with families spending 16.1% of their income on public university ($8,427 sticker price, annually) or 37.2% on private university ($19,342 sticker price, annually).

Also in 1985...

  • WrestleMania debuts at Madison Square Garden
  • Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke
  • British Antarctic Survey scientists announce discovery of a hole in the ozone layer
  • Live Aid pop concerts in London and Philadelphia raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia
  • The first smoking ban in restaurants in the US is passed in Aspen, Colorado
  • The wreck of the RMS Titanic is discovered
  • Steve Jobs resigns from Apple Computer in order to found NeXT
  • The comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" debuts in 35 newspapers in the US.
  • In Geneva, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time
  • Microsoft releases the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0
  • "Amadeus" wins best picture
  • "Like a Virgin" by Madonna stayed at #1 for four weeks

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