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Who Offers the Cheapest Online MBA?
Expert Advice  >  Online MBAs
By Vicky Phillips, Chief Education Analyst  |  January 19, 2009   
 


I’m ready to go back to college online. I need an MBA. Fast. But I already carry $25,000 in student loans from my bachelor’s degree. Can you guys recommend a good—but cheap—online MBA?

—Brad
Manchester, NH



Brace yourself. The cost range of an online MBA is truly staggering. According to GetEducated.com’s National Survey of Online MBAs, you can pay as little as $7,000 or as much as $107,000 for an accredited distance MBA.

With a $100,000 price difference between the least expensive and most expensive option, you’re smart to compare costs carefully before you enroll.

Accreditation, geographic region and the funding structure of your online college—whether it is a non-profit or a for-profit institution—are just some of the factors that will drastically affect the cost of your online MBA.


As a rule, the cheapest online MBAs come from schools that are accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Average cost of a distance learning MBA from a DETC school: $12,700. Nine DETC institutions—schools such as California Coast University, Andrew Jackson University and the American Graduate University—offer online MBAs with sticker prices well under $10,000.

If you pay less do you get less?

Maybe.

DETC degrees are not as widely accepted as regionally accredited degrees. (More than 85 percent of all colleges in the USA are regionally accredited).

Most DETC-accredited schools don’t operate residential campuses. Most operate solely as correspondence schools. For this reason, DETC-accredited schools don’t tend to carry as much brand name recognition with employers.


If you want a regionally accredited distance MBA, bargains abound. Most of these come from public universities in the South or the Midwest that have begun offering their degrees online to a national audience.

Chadron State College of Nebraska is a real steal at $7,060. In fact, among the 390 online MBAs GetEducated.com ranked in 2008, Chadron State was the most affordable.


If you have to have the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business’ (AACSB) stamp of approval on your MBA, East Carolina University offers the cheapest option—but only if you’re lucky enough to be a resident of the state of North Carolina. It’s under $8,000 for Carolinians, over $26,000 for everyone else.

Those who reside in the South can select from a slew of public universities that offer affordable online MBAs; since you don’t, Brad, try Morehead State University or Western Kentucky University, both in Kentucky. These schools offer online MBAs to students nationwide at under $12,000.

To locate your personal best buy among all accredited distance MBAs that recruit students nationwide, consult GetEducated’s Top Ranked Regionally Accredited MBAs – Best Buys and GetEducated.com's Top Ranked AACSB-Accredited MBAs - Best Buys. These rankings list online MBAs by sticker price, making it easy for you to identify scores of low-cost options.



Have you called your state college system? Many state universities now offer MBAs online, or in a “hybrid” or “blended” format—meaning some courses are offered online while others may still be taught in the classroom. These programs are incredibly flexible and very cost effective.

State colleges rarely advertise programs to the public via Google or other net forums. Given the growing popularity of online education, chances are excellent that there may be a cheap—and highly regarded— distance MBA right in your own backyard.




GetEducated.com’s Top Ranked Best Buys Online MBAs - AACSB Accredited
GetEducated.com’s Top Ranked Best Buys Online MBAs - Regionally Accredited
Online and Distance MBA - Fast Facts
Distance MBA without GMAT or GRE
Do I Need an AACSB-Accredited Online MBA?
Are Distance MBAs Any Good?
Online MBA or Master's in Management?
Ivy League MBA



© 2009 GetEducated.com, LLC



 
 
Ask GetEducated!
Q I’m looking for an online MBA. I’ve found several that fit my budget but none are accredited by the AACSB. What is the AACSB? Do I really need a distance MBA degree that is accredited by them? —Roberta, Gary, IN
A The AACSB is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. It is considered the gold standard of business school accreditation. But not every student needs an AACSB-accredited MBA...
Q I was laid off from my job as a real estate agent and want to be a high school math teacher, but my bachelor’s degree is in psychology. Do I need a new degree in education? Will an online bachelor’s in education qualify me to become a licensed teacher? —Willis, Houston, Texas
A If you didn’t earn a bachelor’s degree in education years ago and you now want to teach in the public schools, don’t fret. Every state maintains what are termed “alternative teacher certification” programs...
 
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