&gt; One of the key things left out is the baseline cost of time. A few years of your life is not free and probably makes for a pretty high baseline cost.<p>Hm, wouldn&#x27;t that already be accounted for in using &#x27;lifetime earnings&#x27;? If someone doesn&#x27;t go to college and earns $1m, and another person goes to college and earns $1.1m, then the extra 4 working years apparently didn&#x27;t compensate enough. Plus, college can be a lot more fun than working.