it was really 15K in 1980? I paid about 20K including room and board for a private college in the mid 90s... that figure sounds too high
If you use that calculator, 15K in 1980 works out to 23K in 1990...just sayin'
Even if the cost of college remains the same (assuming 3-4% inflation), 45K in 2013 dollars should be ~95,000 in 2033 dollars and 20K should be ~40K. So even if the cost of college doesn't "rise" in the sense that it has outpaced inflation for the past 20 or so years, it seems within reason to expect public school to be ~35-50K and private school to be ~85-100K