It used to be the norm at state schools, even the flagship 4-year research universities. In-state tuition at UT-Austin in 1960-61 was $100/year, or about $800 in 2014 dollars. Total cost of attendance (including room/board/expenses) was estimated at $925/year, or about $7,500 in 2014 dollars. The University of California system charged no tuition at all until 1970.
I worked my way through school for both my undergraduate degree and a masters in computer science. It wasn't bad. Just have to work hard. The nice thing was, I finished up school with zero debt.
I worked my way through university from 2006-2010. I was able to pay for my freshman year due to a gift from grandparents and random saving (2005-2006). Spring 2006 I got a full time job with the university. I worked for the school because they give great benefits to full time employees. My tuition was cut from ~6k/semester to ~2k.
I was making more than minimum wage, nearly double at the time at $13/hour. This helped, but I kept everything cheap. My apartment was $300/mo, phone, food, and insurance was less than $400. That left me with nearly $1000 left each month.
It wasn't easy and it wasn't glamourous. I worked 8-5 every day and went to class in the evenings until 8 or 9.
How did you do assignments? I was given about 2hrs work per lecture, and usually a long term project as well so would do around 5-6hrs of after school work often longer if I was stuck on some essay writing. Phil essay/argument to write, 2 chapters in Phys to do, 2 Math chapters, write a polisci essay and read 3 chapters, then churning out a small program while working on the midterm larger program was a typical night.
