If you were taking a photography class in the nineties, you would have probably been using B&W film: it's easier to learn to develop yourself, which meant it was easy to start playing around in the darkroom with the various ways you could alter a reel of film by playing with how you developed and printed it. Color film's a lot more complex. If not for a hurricane and a few cross-country moves I'd probably still have some prints of B&W photos I took in a college class, using the 35mm camera I inherited from my father.
If you were someone who was serious about photography to the extent of "I have a nice camera and know how to use it" - maybe it's your hobby, maybe you're somewhere on the path from "likes to take photos" to "makes a living as A Photographer" - then you would have been aware of working in B&W as a valid artistic choice that changes the overall mood of the imagery. A sharp, crisp B&W photo felt pretty modern versus a faded old one.
Even in the mid-2000s, photography classes were still teaching through B+W - as you mention, developing is easier (and therefore faster). The film and photo paper were also cheaper.
If you were someone who was serious about photography to the extent of "I have a nice camera and know how to use it" - maybe it's your hobby, maybe you're somewhere on the path from "likes to take photos" to "makes a living as A Photographer" - then you would have been aware of working in B&W as a valid artistic choice that changes the overall mood of the imagery. A sharp, crisp B&W photo felt pretty modern versus a faded old one.