Why It Matters: Opportunity Costs

Read the article titled ​Why It Matters: Opportunity Costs​, then answer the questions below in
complete sentences.

1. What is the key to making the right decision?

The key to making the right decision is to think about what is worth sacrificing and how can
your decision affect you in the long run. You can also think about the pros and cons of your
options to help you make a good decision.
2. Define trade-off
Trade-off means to make decisions that create your opportunity cost. Your opportunity cost is
what you didn’t chose. Furthermore, your trade-off is the decision based off of what you gain
and lose.
3. When you make the college choice what is your trade-off?
When you make the college choice your trade-off would be the amount of money you make
increasing just because you gained more education than a high school graduate who went
straight to a workforce.
4. In at least 5 sentences, answer the following: what do you think is the key to making the
“right” college/work decision for yourself? Explain what that decision is and the support
for why it is the best decision.
What I think is the key to making the “right” college decision for myself is to recognize what is
worth losing or gaining. For example, If I do choose to pursue college I gain more money in my
future workforce because I took the time and money to further my education. Although, I might
gain more money I might also be paying my debts due to the significant amount of money that is
needed to attend college. Therefore, I would want to think about the pros and cons of attending
college. I would also research ways I could decrease the amount of money I need to pay for
college by looking for grants, scholarships, and loans. To conclude, I believe the best decision
would be attending college because there are many resources I can go use to help me pay for
college. Not only will I get help paying for college I will also increase the amount of money I
would be able to contribute to my family when I am in the workforce because of what I invested
to my education.