If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!

The line is a pointed cost–benefit argument: while schooling and training can feel burdensome in the short term (tuition, time, effort), the long-term price of not learning—poor decisions, limited opportunities, preventable mistakes, and social or economic vulnerability—tends to be far higher. Its punch comes from reversing the usual complaint about the “expense” of education and reframing ignorance as the truly costly condition. The aphorism is often used in debates about public funding, workplace training, and personal development to justify investment in learning as a form of prudence rather than luxury.