May 18, 2011
EMBA Programs That Won't Break the Bank
By John A. Byrne |
Reprinted from
PoetsandQuants.com
Executive MBA programs can
be pretty costly. At the very top
of the luxury brands is the
University of Pennsylvania’s
Wharton School program in
San Francisco with a breathtaking price tag of $172,200.
Most of the highly ranked
executive versions of the MBA
are all well above six figures.
Are there any reasonably
priced EMBA experiences out
there?
You bet. We found nearly 50
business schools in the U.S.
that offer executive MBAs for
less than $50,000 in total
tuition. They may not have the
cache of a Columbia Business
School, Chicago Booth or
Northwestern Kellogg, but then
many of these programs cost
only a third or less of the big
brand EMBA experiences.
You’ll get similar course
material in all the business
basics for a fraction of the cost
of a Wharton or a Columbia.
MBAs at Bargain Basement
Prices
Imagine earning an MBA for a
flat $10,000. It’s possible at the
Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, California, in a 24month program with a class
size of 50 students with
average work experience of
nine years. The catch? It’s a
defense-focused degree
available only to officers and
senior civilians in the Navy.
So the least expensive EMBA
in the world is a bit of an
anomaly. But then there is
Ohio University’s program in
Athens, Ohio, at a mere
$29,000 in total tuition–just
one-sixth the cost of that
Wharton program. Or want
something even more
reasonable? Try Benedictine
College’s $22,200 EMBA
program, a fast track, 12-month
experience in Atchison,
Kansas.
How can these schools offer
quality EMBAs at such low
costs? “We’re trying to grow
the program right now,”
explains Edward Yost, director
of executive graduate
education at Ohio University.
“We also live in a pretty
depressed area in Southeast
Ohio. It’s not the most
lucrative economy in the world
so there is a need to serve our
public and the community’s
economic development needs.”
At a time when most schools
hike their MBA tuition by 3%
to 6% annually, Ohio’s EMBA
price tag has remained the
same for the past three years.
These bargains are not
confined to the hinterlands.
There are also programs under
$50,000 in New York, Chicago
and San Francisco. Consider
Baruch College’s $48,000
program, Lake Forest’s
$44,720 program, or San
Francisco State’s $42,480
EMBA degree–all remarkable
deals in high-priced locales.
The Downside of No-Frills
Programs
Many of these executive
programs are relatively new so
the alumni network is
somewhat sparse. The under$50K schools with the largest
alums are Lake Forest, which
has graduated 7,700 EMBAs,
St. Mary’s in Moraga,
California, which has
graduated 4,000 EMBAs, and
Brigham Young, which has
turned out more than 1,600
grads.
Obviously, there are sacrifices
here. It’s the difference
between flying coach and first
class. Not only do you not get
the prestige of a big brand,
you’re likely to sit in
classrooms with students and
professors who won’t be as
consistently interesting and
high caliber. If there’s a
stayover night, you’re not
going to be put up at the
swanky Hotel Le Meridian in
San Francisco’s financial
district–an inclusive part of
Wharton’s pricey program.
And you’re also not going to be
given gourmet meals which are
often a part of an upscale, big
brand executive MBA.
But you’ll be saving a heck of
a lot of money. And
interestingly enough, some of
these schools are highly ranked
and highly admired, even
though they have figured out a
way to deliver a top quality
program at a low cost. Two
good examples: Purdue
University’s Krannert School
of Management, highly ranked
for its full-time MBA program,
has an executive version for
$42,000. Brigham Young
University’s Marriott School of
Management, also highly for
its full-time MBA program, has
a $45,000 EMBA, with a
weekend option in Salt Lake
City and a weeknight option in
Provo.
You’d expect a no-frills
program for just $45,000,
right? So what do you get?
Surprisingly, a lot. It includes
the cost of books, breakfast and
lunch every day during two
residency weeks, and,
remarkably, an international
trip for which BYU even picks
up the round-trip airfare. This
year’s contingent of EMBAs
went to places as far afield as
India, Greece, and Turkey.
School
Tuition
Class
Size
Naval Postgraduate SchoolMonterey, CA
Benedictine College Atchison, KS
Ohio University Athens, OH
University of New Orleans New Orleans, LA
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV
University of Arkansas Little Rock, AK
DePaul University Chicago, IL
University of New MexicoAlbuquerque, NM
Wichita State University Wichita, KS
Bowling Green State Bowling Green, OH
University of TennesseeChattanooga, TN
$10,000
$22,200
$29,000
$29,500
$30,432
$32,500
$33,600
$34,560
$35,075
$36,000
$36,000
50
15
25
48
22
12
27
64
25
20
16
So how can the 24-month
program be so inexpensive?
Says Debbie Auxier, program
coordinator, “We’re not
spending money on lodging
every other week or meals
before or after class. What we
serve we call them snacks. And
we don’t buy computers for
them. We use our own
professors to teach the program
so we don’t have to pay
outsiders.” No wonder, the
school has half a dozen
students are commuting from
California, Oregon, Nevada
and Idaho.
Some of these bargains tend to
be specialized. Vanderbilt
University’s Owen Graduate
School of Management, for
instance, has a one-year
program in health care for
clinical professionals and
physicians that meets one
evening each week and one
weekend each month. The
cost? Just $46,336. In a world
of high six-figure programs,
these are absolute steals.
Here’s our list of EMBA
programs that are among the
best values out there:
Average
Work Exp.
(years)
9
5
3
5
2
5
3
5
5
5
3
Pgm. Length
(months)
Total
Alumni
24
12
18
17
24
18
20
25
20
18
16
400
400
125
429
830
196
195
650
130
600
166
Kent State University Kent, OH
University of Idaho Moscow, ID
University of Tampa Tampa, FL
Binghamton University/SUNYBinghamton, New York
University at Buffalo Buffalo, New York
University of Florida Gainesville, FL
Northern Illinois University De Kalb, IL
University of Hawaii Honolulu, HI
University of Toledo Toledo, OH
Purdue University CalumetHammond, IN
Boise State University Boise, ID
Purdue University West Lafayette, IN
Florida International Miami, FL
University of Nebraska Omaha, NE
University of Nevada Las Vegas, NV
University of South Florida Tampa, FL
San Francisco State San Francisco, CA
University of Central Florida Orlando, FL
Cleveland State University Cleveland, OH
Lake Forest Lake Forest, IL
Mercer University Atlanta, GA
University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL
Brigham Young University Provo, UT
San Diego State San Diego, CA
Virginia Commonwealth Richmond, VA
Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN
University of New HampshireDurham, NH
Baruch College/CUNY New York, NY
University of Colorado Denver, CO
St. Mary’s College Moraga, CA
Auburn University Auburn, AL
Jacksonville University Jacksonville, FL
Bradley University Peoria, IL
University of Maryland Adelphi, MD
University of New Haven New Haven, CT
Marquette University Milwaukee, WI
Rockhurst University Kansas City, MO
Source: Executive MBA Council
$37,000
$37,000
$39,600
$39,800
$40,000
$40,000
$40,500
$40,986
$41,000
$41,000
$41,000
$42,000
$42,000
$42,000
$42,000
$42,500
$42,480
$44,000
$44,500
$44,720
$44,775
$45,000
$45,000
$45,888
$46,000
$46,336
$46,730
$48,000
$48,000
$48,600
$48,840
$49,000
$49,600
$49,602
$49,840
$49,900
$49,900
30
14
28
17
30
40
34
44
11
23
18
52
51
19
18
24
16
23
17
120
15
24
67
39
46
25
15
30
26
22
55
23
19
14
17
13
20
5
5
5
6
5
8
5
5
3
5
8
3
5
6
7
5
5
5
10
4
7
5
5
8
6
5
7
5
6
5
8
10
7
5
10
5
7
19
22
24
21
22
20
21
22
15
18
21
36
20
18
18
21
23
20
19
22
16
18
24
22
20
13
19
34
24
18
21
16
15
21
21
17
21
1,150
26
97
248
30
359
881
380
292
300
42
244
150
533
123
1,043
250
335
1,050
7,700
389
700
1,628
535
715
25
672
869
602
4,000
379
750
127
310
1,600
282
811