Inflation facts:  Your job paying $2.10/hour in 1964 is equivalent to $16.56/hour in today's dollars (current minimum wage is $9.75/hour)

Your tuition of $98/quarter in 1964 is equivalent to $773/quarter in 2017 (current quarterly tuition for residents for 12 hours - fees only - is just under $3000).

It's very easy for you to adopt a "pay your own way" and "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" attitude when you were making such a high wage and paying such low tuition.

So yes, your premise is right.  People who were "poor" in 1949 have no idea what it's like to be poor in 2017.