At least the Stowe season pass is now very reasonable.
I remember back just out of college the Sugarbush season pass was about $1500 and that was back in the mid-late 90's. We bought a laminator, printed up college id's. Even when they started requiring a letter from your registrar, we printed those up too and got a phone line with a recording. It was all worth it when a college pass was about $350 and usually included other mountains like Stowe, Jay or MRG.
Now that my kids are teens, you really don't get much of a break on a season pass for them, so I only get one for myself (but I get in 40-50 days so it's justified). Our community gets discount passes for WV. I think it's around $50 for a kids day pass and maybe $70 for an adult, but even then my wife and daughter take two or 3 runs and call it a day.
It's tough up here though. Even though there may be a lot of jobs, and they're having trouble filling them, the pay is pretty low. Income inequality is nuts. I've put my time in working in restaurants and what not, and even as an entry level civil engineer, I was making crap. But it's a different story when you're self employed. I mean, I don't charge what I could. The rates for a plumber, HVAC, even mechanic are in the $100-150/hr range, sometimes higher. But I'm sure they're probably only bringing home between 1/3 and 1/4 of that. Up north it's probably 1/2 it is in the Boston area.