The nature of Susan’s planning decision to allocate a set budget between
two activities seems relatively straightforward—although we should not
underestimate how tough such decisions actually are in practice. But now
consider a bigger problem, one where scarcity and choice still play a
central role. Instead of a situation where a single decision maker is
allocating dollars of spending, our next situation relates to how a country
university environment. Or maybe they believe that a university
degree will significantly increase their future earning
potential. In Chapter 14 we will see that this is true. In this
case, they are giving up four years of earnings at one salary so
that they can invest in building their skills in the hope of
enjoying many more years in the future at a considerably higher
salary.
Whatever the reason for attending college or university, the
recognition that a post-secondary degree is very expensive
should convince students to make the best use of their time
while they are there. Read on!
*This box considers only the cost to the student of a university
degree. For reasons that will be discussed in detail in Part 6 of
this book, provincial governments heavily subsidize post-
secondary education in Canada. Because of this subsidy, the
cost to society of a university degree is generally much higher
than the cost to an individual student.