Foregone wages

Foregone wages are the salary you don’t earn while you’re doing something else — most commonly, studying full-time. They are the most overlooked part of the cost of any qualification because they don’t appear on any invoice.

How to estimate them

Start with the salary you’d realistically earn in a job you could take instead. Multiply by the years of full-time study. That gross figure is the headline foregone wages number.

Two adjustments usually shrink it:

• Part-time work during study. Earnings during the course directly offset the foregone-wages figure. A student earning $15,000 a year while studying reduces a $50,000-per-year foregone figure to a net $35,000 annually.
• Wage growth. The job available at 18 wouldn’t have paid the same at 22. Realistic wage growth (typically 2–4% annually) makes later study years more expensive than earlier ones.

Example

A four-year course taken instead of a $40,000-per-year alternative job, with no part-time work and no wage growth, foregoes $160,000 in gross wages — already several times most tuition figures.

Why they matter beyond the headline

Foregone wages aren’t just a flat sum. The portion you would have saved would have compounded over the rest of your career. This is the same opportunity cost mechanism that compound interest applies to investments — applied to time.

The study opportunity cost calculator quantifies the gross foregone figure and what it would be worth if invested. The degree vs no degree calculator frames foregone wages alongside post-graduation earnings to show whether the qualification pays back the time investment.