Recession can make school relatively cheaper

Coming back to school I am reminded of the hard financial times associated with the adjustment from regular work hours to the insanity of a mish-mash schedule of work, social events and school.  It takes the kind of flexibility of a regular Paul Hunt (youtube it).

This year is already beginning on a rough financial footing for students in Manitoba.  Bus fares are 12.5 per cent over last September’s fare, tuition hikes loom but one year yonder, and for you cell phone-less ludites out there all three of the free phones down in the Bulman centre won’t be back for a month.

Not to mention the biggest financial burden of them all, housing.  Increasingly, however, students are staying at home longer.  This fact has been on the minds and lips of commentators for some time now.  At my age, 22, less than 40 per cent of men have moved out and about 50 per cent of women have gotten out of the house.

Of course the plan to stay at home is still not embraced by all students.  Some continue to reinforce the image frequently conjured of the hapless student struggling to open that can of peach halves which will serve as his main means of sustenance to get him to that holiest of days: payday Friday.

It seems, however, that there may be relief out there in the form of economic theory.

Students are often left with the great exercise in dealing with scarcity, the catchword for economics.  As soon as the student faces scarcity she becomes a prime target for economic anecdote about opportunity cost.  When a person is confronted with the decision to go to school she must take a look at the cost of going to school and compare it with the best possible non-school choice.  If you are a student reading this then you may recognize that you have decided to forgo the excellent wages our economy has been providing since Alberta’s oil sands development sent job demand through the roof.  This means that you have paid not only your tuition but also all that money you could have made by working.  You have chosen instead the occupation of student at an opportunity cost higher than that paid before the boom in labour wages.

Of course it looks like this may all change.  A recession seems to be looming on the horizon, serious problems are emerging one province to the east and one country to the south.  But rejoice, oh students, for although housing prices have risen significantly and tuition may be the next to slap us in the face, recession may limit our options, and in turn wages, thus lowering the opportunity cost of our education.

It may be worth noting that economic studies have shown it to be the case that enrolment goes up during economic recessions; it is generally beleived that it is a result of the theory of opportunity cost.