Analysis Of Cost And Return For Private Investment In Social Science Postgraduate Education In China

This paper suggests that the costs for private investment in social sciencepostgraduate education in China mainly involve direct costs and indirect costs. Thedirect costs are the costs and expenses directly incurred in education which includetuition fees,costs of books,transportation,meals and accommodation. The indirectcosts are the costs arising from loss of monetary gains from work due to the timespent in education.By assessing these two types of costs,this paper suggests that,indetermining whether private funds shall be put into social science postgraduateeducation,we shall not over focus on the directs costs while ignore the indirect costsspent in social science postgraduate education.The social science postgraduate education can generate three types of benefits,namely,return of investment,return from consumption and external benefit.The returnof investments refers to the education receiver will be able to earn sustainable andgrowing income from work in the long run. The return from consumption is thespiritual fulfilment that the education receiver is able to enjoy. The external benefitrefers to the benefit gained by the society. By identifying these three types ofbenefits,we are able to understand the co-relation between the monetary gains andnon-monetary benefits.After overall assessment of the cost and return of private investment in socialscience postgraduate education,this paper suggests that we shall rationally comparethe costs and returns in social science postgraduate education,based on the practicalconditions in reality,we can reasonably make a choice of right channel for investmentin professional degree education and academic education.