Gary Becker treated your education like a factory treats its machines

In his 1964 book, Gary Becker argued that spending on schooling, training, and even health is a form of investment, just like a firm buying machinery: it costs money upfront and pays a measurable return in future earnings. The framework let economists calculate the rate of return on a college degree the same way they'd value a piece of capital equipment. It reshaped labor economics and helped win Becker the 1992 Nobel Prize in Economics.

— Gary S. Becker, Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education — University of Chicago Press, 1964
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