Readers React: Back in his day, ‘donating’ plasma could pay for college
To the editor: Steve Lopez’s column on plasma “donation” reminded me of how I paid for my senior year’s tuition at UCLA in 1967. (“In a hurting economy, selling plasma is part of their financial lifeblood,” Oct. 24)
There was a Westwood donation center that paid $10 per pint. You could donate twice a week, and over eight months I gave 56 pints for a total of $560. That pretty much covered the $600 yearly tuition.
Today, with in-state tuition at about $13,000 and plasma going for $25 a pint, it would take 520 donations to pay for a year of school.
This is kind of a sad comment on either what we pay the more needy in our society or what public university tuition has risen to. Or both.
Stephen Schwartz, Beverly Hills
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
A cure for the common opinion
Get thought-provoking perspectives with our weekly newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
