What is the opportunity cost of post secondary education

Question

I need this to be answered ASAP. I’ve been trying to figure out this answer  so long. What I know is that opportunity cost means  

the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. Thats it. 

Answer 1

The opportunity cost for going to college is the amount it costs you plus the amount you could have earned during let's say 4 years of college. It can only be calculated if you list your assumptions. Just for demonstration purposes, let's assume college costs you $100,000 and you could have earned $25,000 per year working with a high school diploma. Your opportunity cost of going to college and not starting to work is 25,000 x 4 + 100,000 = $200,000.  Now let's think about the opportunity cost of NOT going to college. Some assumptions here: let's assume you make an average of $40,000 per year average over a 49 year working career if you do not go to college.  Your earnings are $1.96 million lifetime. What if you go to college? It depends on the choices you make. If you find a well-paying career, let's say you make an average of $70,000 per year over the 45 year career (4 years less while you are in college) and that you have some grants but also loans to pay of $8000 per year for 12 years including interest. Your lifetime earnings are $3.15 million minus the $96,000 in loans + interest that you pay back. Your net lifetime earnings are $2.54 million, so the opportunity cost of NOT going to college, with these assumptions, is $580,000 over your lifetime. The important thing is to absolutely minimize your college costs while getting a quality education, do work study, and minimize your loans. Then you must major in a field that will get you jobs. Don't just consider the obvious ones of computer science, math, business. There are jobs in the arts, teaching, social sciences, writing - really think about your talents and interests and choose wisely.