It still is in most countries that aren't the US. My wife went back to complete a graphic design degree as a career change / work break. The opportunity cost o

It still is in most countries that aren't the US. My wife went back to complete a graphic design degree as a career change / work break. The opportunity cost of 4 years of not working is obviously huge, but the absolute cost was about 10k euro in Ireland, and that is on the high side for Europe as a whole I think.