4 ms·

For knowledge workers who could have begun a similar career without college, the cost of the degree should also include the money they would have made by workin

For knowledge workers who could have begun a similar career without college, the cost of the degree should also include the money they would have made by working 4 additional years at the end of their career (probably one of the highest points?)

tome 7y ago
> For intelligence workers You probably mean "knowledge workers" :)
- anonymoushn 7y ago
  sure fixed
mygo 7y ago
The Opportunity Cost would have been incurred while they were in college, not 30+ years after. There are too many variables in play when projecting that far out in the future, but you can make good estimates as to what would have happened in the past as an alternative to the 4 years spent in college.
- anonymoushn 7y ago
  I didn't get compensated as if I had 4 YoE when I had 0.
seem_2211 7y ago
I've done the math on the opportunity cost of how much I would have made if I hadn't gone to university. It was about $120k over 4 years, and raised the opportunity cost to about $160k (I borrowed $60k, but some of that money was for living expenses, that would have been covered by working full time). I was earning about $16/$17 per hour at the time. It increased the jump I needed to make from $.50 per hour to $2 per hour.
- anonymoushn 7y ago
  Alright. I probably would have taken a similar job to the one I actually took 3 years earlier and followed a similar career path the whole time. That is, I wouldn't add 3 additional years of entry level IC work, I would add 3 additional years of senior IC work or better. Right now I'm working for half of prevailing wages for senior ICs in exchange for living in a civilized country, so half of prevailing wages * 3 years - taxes is around $400,000. If I ever move back to the US or get promoted it will be pretty easy to get to an opportunity cost of seven figures of post-tax money for 3 years of math degree.

4 ms·

For knowledge workers who could have begun a similar career without college, the cost of the degree should also include the money they would have made by workin

by anonymoushn 7y ago

tome 7y ago
> For intelligence workers You probably mean "knowledge workers" :)
- anonymoushn 7y ago
  sure fixed
mygo 7y ago
The Opportunity Cost would have been incurred while they were in college, not 30+ years after. There are too many variables in play when projecting that far out in the future, but you can make good estimates as to what would have happened in the past as an alternative to the 4 years spent in college.
- anonymoushn 7y ago
  I didn't get compensated as if I had 4 YoE when I had 0.
seem_2211 7y ago
I've done the math on the opportunity cost of how much I would have made if I hadn't gone to university. It was about $120k over 4 years, and raised the opportunity cost to about $160k (I borrowed $60k, but some of that money was for living expenses, that would have been covered by working full time). I was earning about $16/$17 per hour at the time. It increased the jump I needed to make from $.50 per hour to $2 per hour.
- anonymoushn 7y ago
  Alright. I probably would have taken a similar job to the one I actually took 3 years earlier and followed a similar career path the whole time. That is, I wouldn't add 3 additional years of entry level IC work, I would add 3 additional years of senior IC work or better. Right now I'm working for half of prevailing wages for senior ICs in exchange for living in a civilized country, so half of prevailing wages * 3 years - taxes is around $400,000. If I ever move back to the US or get promoted it will be pretty easy to get to an opportunity cost of seven figures of post-tax money for 3 years of math degree.