Who Offers the Cheapest Online MBA?

Question:

I’m ready to go back to college online. I need a distance MBA. Fast. But I already carry $25,000 in student loans from my bachelors degree. Can GetEducated.com recommend a good—but cheap—online MBA?

—Brad
Manchester, NH

Answer:

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 $119,000 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.

Cheapest Online MBA

As a rule, the cheapest online MBA will 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: $11,972. Six DETC institutions—schools such as California Coast University, Andrew Jackson University and Grantham 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 distance learning schools. For this reason, DETC-accredited schools don’t tend to carry as much brand name recognition with employers.

Cheapest Distance MBA - Regionally Accredited

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.

Wayne State College is a real steal at $6,750. In fact, among the 406 online MBAs GetEducated.com surveyed in 2010, Wayne State was the most affordable.

Cheapest Distance MBA – AACSB Accredited

If you have to have the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business’ (AACSB) stamp of approval on your MBA, Southeast Missouri State University offers the cheapest option—but only if you’re lucky enough to be a resident of the state of Missouri. It’s $8,233 for Missourians, over $14,173 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 the University of North Dakota or the University of South Dakota, both of which have distance MBAs for under $13,000 (no matter where you live).

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.

Go Local – Save Big

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.

Related Resources

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

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