college yearly tuition jumping from $400 in 1935 to $20,000 today.

I can't say much about the price for college in 1935 because it was some 50 years before I was born, but the public university that I'll be attending next year is about $5,500 per year for tuition. Room and board, tuition, books, etc. is a total of $60,000 over four years. (That's how much they give for their full scholarship, which I wouldn't mind receiving. ) I think part of the reason for the soaring price of college is that more people want to go and everyone is realizing how valuable a college education is in the current job market.

And musick, there wasn't a after the main comment that I replied to. But about the question marked statement, I think it's obvious that the economic boom is happening mainly in the 'burbs around the big cities. The inner cities aren't doing too well. The city of Cincinnati, for one, had a population decrease of around 30,000 over the last 10 years, while the suburbs are doing well. Good ol' urban sprawl.