There were qualitative and quantitative factors involved in a decision
that I had to make a couple years back when deciding to go back to
school. I was working two jobs at the time and had to continue working
both or leave my second job to be able to free up time to complete my
degree. It was a tough decision but I created a stricter budget and
sacrificed a little more so I can finish my education. I needed to free up
my time physically so I was able to complete my studies each week and
knew that working 60 plus hours a week would make that difficult for me.
I used the decision method when I weighed out the pros and cons of
going back to school. I thought of the long-term benefits in comparison
to the short term sacrifices I would be making and concluded that I was
not really losing out on much aside from a vacation or two each year. I
was still able to maintain my lifestyle but without the extra “fun spending
money” from my second income. I reviewed my options for going back
to school and found that going online full time is ideal for my schedule. I
would be able to make my own hours and study at my pace which is
exactly what would work for me. I reviewed the past year’s budget and
found we spent a lot of money eating out so now I also cook at home
frequently and save a lot in that department. Over the past two years
since I have been going to school, I found after evaluating my one
income budget that I was never really sacrificing much but just trading in
my opportunity costs for a potentially better long term opportunity.
References
Datar, S. M., Rajan. M.V. (2018)
Horngren’s Cost Accounting: A
Managerial Emphasis, Global Edition. Pearson Education Limited
