Planning How to Pay, Competitive Online Degrees

Worried about how to pay for business school?

From competitive admissions for online degree programs to considering how to pay for your MBA—here are the top stories for aspiring business school students.

Tuition costs rising

The benefits of the an MBA are clear: Over a lifetime, you can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars more than you would with a BA or BS alone. The bad news: The down payment can be brutal. Now there are four MBA programs that cost over $200,000: NYU Stern, Stanford GSB, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and Columbia Business School. Calculating total costs if you attend full time, including lost income from a job, business school could set you back another $200,000. This is not at all to discourage you from getting your MBA—in fact the vast majority of business schools cost a lot less. Some have even frozen their tuition. But definitely think about how to pay for it. (Poets & Quants)

Thinking about how to pay

Speaking of how to pay for your MBA education, there are ways to make your degree more affordable through budgeting and cutting back on the non-essentials. Non-essentials, by the way, includes ordering take-out every night. It also means cutting back on premium cable TV, looking for sales when you go shopping, living at home with your parents (gulp), and financing your college loans. The key point is that figuring out how to pay for an MBA starts with thinking through necessary expenses and talking about your budget with someone who may know better than you about this subject. Make sure it’s with someone with whom you’re comfortable discussing personal finances, however. (The Huffington Post)

Selective online degree programs

Business schools are increasingly adopting online components or offering MBA programs completely online. For some students, an online degree make sense. It allows for flexibility, and you can pretty much attend/participate from anywhere with high-speed Internet access. Some, in fact, are quite competitive, contrary to popular perception. For instance, Concordia University Chicago has an acceptance rate of only 33.5 percent. Overall, however, online programs that have reported average an acceptance rate of 75 percent. (U.S. News & World Report)

From MBA to product manager

MBA students are increasingly looking at jobs in tech companies as product managers, say recruiters, business school faculty, and students. Product manager is a position in which you can combine marketing, design, and problem solving skills. Among the MBA programs who are meeting student demands in this area are Harvard Business School, Cornell Johnson, and Northwestern Kellogg. “I like the idea of constantly improving a product that has an impact on users,” says one Johnson student. As regular readers will know, the tech world has become a popular destination for new MBAs, and even non-tech companies are embracing technology more and more, which in turn helps win the interest of tech-savvy MBAs. (The Wall Street Journal)

MBA programs worth it

A new survey by the Graduate School Admission Council, the makers of the GMAT, shows that MBAs overwhelmingly think that two years and tens of thousands of dollars to get your MBA is all worth it. The survey, which included responses from almost 15,000 alumni from 70 MBA programs in 20 countries, found that over 89 percent labeled their MBA education as professionally rewarding, while 93 percent of respondents saying they would pursue a graduate business degree again. Approximately three-quarters of those surveyed said it was financially valuable. Additionally, the vast majority said they would recommend an MBA education to others. That’s some strong ROI. (The Globe and Mail)

Ready to kick your GMAT score into top shape? Challenge yourself to our free 20-minute workout.

The post Planning How to Pay, Competitive Online Degrees appeared first on Business School Insider.