Iberoamerican Journal of Project Management (Dec 2017)
COST OF OPPORTUNITY FOR A STUDENT THAT STUDIES AT THE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF QUERETARO (UPQ)
Abstract
Objective: To determine the cost of opportunity for international business students to study at the UPQ, by identifying the variables that make it and the expenditure generated on each of them. Methodology: The sample consisted of 240 students from a population of 639 who were enrolled in the four-month period January-April 2017. One hundred fifty-four of the participants were women and 86 were men. To identify the elements that helped to distinguish the economical and the accounting costs, it was necessary to design a questionnaire that consisted of two sections. The first one grouped the factors that imply a tangible disbursement for the participants. The second section consisted of calculating the imputed cost associated with studying at the university. All data was calculated monthly. Results: The total expenses of the students are the following: The implicit costs are higher than the explicit ones in 62%. This implies that the nonmonetary costs are very important in the total expenditure of the students. It is important to emphasize that the cost of opportunity for a student is $ 8401 which implies a little less than 4 minimum wages (US $ 463.88), this represents a high cost when considering that the monthly income of most of the inhabitants of Querétaro is above $ 10,000. Therefore, 84% of that income is used to pay schooling. However, if the students were graduates now, the average salary they would ask for would be $ 11 250 pesos; it represents only 33% above the total cost of studying at the university. Conclusions: The cost of opportunity of studying at the UPQ highly increases when the implicit costs are accounted for. Within accounting costs, transportation and "extra food" represent a high percentage of total expenditure, therefore it would be advisable to increase school transportation and optimize public transport routes. Additionally, it is also important to review the prices of food inside the university. The most important implicit cost that was identified is the salary that the students would receive if they were not studying.
