Orin Hatch and Cost of Opportunity

I was watching a YouTube video of Orin Hatch dressing down someone testifying before one the committees he is on or chairs. Basically he argued that if you work hard like he did, you can become a US Senator or anything else you want to be. He went on and on about being poor, and having to work so hard to put himself through Law School working a minimum wage job as a janitor.

I wonder how much Pittsburgh Law School cost back in 1960 when Orin Hatch graduated, and what it costs today? I wonder what the minimum wage was then compared to what it is today? I did a little research and here is my analysis.

Pittsburgh Law School Annual Cost 1960: $204
Pittsburgh Law School Annual Cost 2017: $33,280
An increase of 16000%

Minimum Wage in 1960: $1.00 per hour
Minimum Wage in 2017: $7.25 per hour
An Increase of 625%

To pay for a full year of Pittsburgh Law School in 1960 Orin Hatch had to work a total of 204 hours at minimum wage, or about 5 weeks of full time work.

For someone to pay for a full year of Pittsburgh Law School working a full time minimum wage job now it would take 4,590 hours or about 114 weeks of full time work.

To put the change into an even more obvious perspective, for someone's opportunity to be similar to Orin Hatch's they would have to make $163 per hour. 

As a nation how do we bring back opportunities like this to even the poorest among us. I would argue that what made our country great after WWII was opportunities like what Orin Hatch had, for a relatively small investment, he was able to get himself through Law School and become a lifelong public servant. Today, only the very rich can afford such opportunities.



Sources:
Cost of the University of Pittsburgh Law School 1960
https://cei.org/blog/mind-boggling-increase-tuition-1960-even-students-learn-less-and-less

Current cost of the University of Pittsburgh Law School
http://law.pitt.edu/financialaid/cost

Minimum Wage:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm