Full-Time MBA Tuition to Rise Once More: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul Updated Dec 06, 2019

Save

Introduction
Top US business schools and the US$100k P/A threshold

Check out the 2014/15 edition of the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report

In the US, the cost of a full-time MBA is set to rise once more for students starting this fall. Tuition hikes of between 2 and 10% for the 2015/16 academic year have already been announced by 10 top US business schools, according to a Bloomberg Business analysis. All 10 schools feature in the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report 2014/15 (the top 200 schools in the world according to MBA employers and academics in the field of business and management).

The highest rise was discernible at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, where a rise just shy of 10% will bring a single year of full-time MBA tuition over the US$50,000 threshold for out-of-state students.

Elsewhere, announced rises in MBA tuition rates at schools such as Yale SOM and Dartmouth Tuck mostly fell a little above or below the 4% mark – the rate at which a number of Ivy League schools will increase their undergraduate tuition fees. These rises are well above the current rate of inflation in the US, according to the latest figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. In January, the Consumer Price Index actually fell into the red because of falling petrol prices, before recovering to 0.2% in February and evening out the overall change going back 12 months to 0%.

Top US business schools and the US$100k P/A threshold

At MIT Sloan, the rise in full-time MBA tuition rates amounted to just over 3% and took the school’s student budget planner closer than ever to six figures, at US$98,014.

However, there was evidence that the US$100,000 threshold – and therefore US$200,000 over the course of a two-year, full-time MBA – had already been crossed towards the end of last year in the budget planners of both NYU Stern and Stanford GSB – both of whom rank alongside MIT Sloan in the top 10 of this year’s top US business schools.

Among the top US business schools, paying a premium on tuition is justified in the context of the degree’s expected outcome – namely, its return on investment, or ROI. However, this doesn’t stop MBA tuition rises from being a source of contention. At the end of last year, for instance, plans to raise fees in the University of California system (Which would affect the Haas MBA, among others) led to student protests.

Written by

Tim Dhoul

Tim is a writer with a background in consumer journalism and charity communications. He trained as a journalist in the UK and holds degrees in history (BA) and Latin American studies (MA).