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Tuition records before the 1963-64 academic year are sparse, so 1963 is where the reliable series begins — and across the whole span since, the price of college has risen faster than almost anything else Americans buy. Published tuition and fees at a public four-year college are now roughly 40 times their 1963 level in raw dollars. Over the same period the overall price level (everything in the CPI basket) rose about 10 times, and median household income about 13 times. Indexed to a common 1963 = 100 starting line, the tuition curve pulls away from both inflation and wages and never looks back.
Adjusted purely for inflation, public four-year tuition is still up 312% since 1963 — a real increase of roughly four-fold on top of general price growth. Private nonprofit tuition rose about 259% in real terms. The gap between the tuition line and the income line is, in effect, the gap that student debt fills.
Nominal (not inflation-adjusted), indexed to 1963 = 100. Tuition & fees: College Board / NCES. CPI-U: BLS. Median household income: Census.
Federal + private. The Fed began reporting student loans as a distinct series in 2006 (~$0.48T). Source: Federal Reserve / NY Fed.