Course Fee vs Earnings Calculator NZ 2026

This calculator weighs the true cost of a qualification, including the income you give up while studying, against the extra earnings it brings over your working life, which is the honest way to judge whether a course is worth it. Simple course-cost comparisons miss the biggest expense of full-time study: the salary you do not earn while you are in class instead of at work. For a longer or full-time qualification, that foregone income can dwarf the tuition fee, and ignoring it makes study look cheaper than it really is. On the other side of the ledger, a good qualification can lift your earnings for the rest of your career, so the benefit is measured in lifetime extra earnings, not just the first year. This tool brings both sides together. You enter the course fee, how many months you will be studying, the income you give up each month during study, the extra you expect to earn per year afterwards, and how many working years you have left to benefit. The calculator returns the total true cost, including foregone income, the lifetime extra earnings, the net lifetime gain, and the payback period in years. This gives a far more realistic answer than fees alone: a short, part-time course you can do while working has almost no foregone income and pays back fast, while a multi-year full-time degree carries a large opportunity cost that needs a substantial and lasting salary uplift to justify. Use it to compare study options, to decide between full-time and part-time study, or to time a return to study. Be realistic about the salary uplift and working years; this is a planning estimate, not a guarantee of future earnings.

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$75,000
net lifetime gain
True cost (incl foregone)$45,000
Lifetime extra earnings$120,000
Payback7.5 years

Foregone income is the salary you miss while studying. The net gain is not discounted for inflation. An estimate only.

How it works

The true cost adds the course fee to the income you give up, which is your monthly foregone income times the months studying. The lifetime extra earnings are the annual uplift times your remaining working years. The net lifetime gain is the lifetime earnings less the true cost, and payback is the true cost divided by the annual uplift.

Worked example

A $15,000 course taking 12 months full-time, giving up $2,500 a month, has a true cost of $45,000 once the $30,000 of foregone income is added. If it lifts earnings by $6,000 a year for 20 years, lifetime extra earnings are $120,000, a net gain of $75,000, with a payback of 7.5 years. Studying part-time while working would cut the foregone income to near zero.

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Frequently asked questions

Why include income given up while studying?

Full-time study means missing salary you would otherwise earn, which is often the biggest cost of a qualification. Ignoring it makes study look cheaper than it is. This calculator adds that foregone income to the fee for a true cost.

How is lifetime gain different from simple ROI?

This measures the extra earnings across your remaining working years and subtracts the true cost including foregone income, giving a net lifetime gain. A simple ROI over a few years can miss both the opportunity cost of study and the long tail of higher earnings.

Should I study full-time or part-time?

Part-time study while working sharply reduces foregone income, often making the numbers far more favourable even if it takes longer. Compare both by changing the months studying and the income given up, and weigh the result against lifestyle and study load.