Time is Money: The Case for Online MBAs

In economics, two of the most important concepts are efficiency and scarcity.  Efficiency refers to a state where every resource is optimally allocated to minimize waste. Scarcity refers to limitations – insufficient resources, goods, or abilities to achieve the desired ends. Figuring out ways to make the best, most efficient use of scarce resources or find alternatives is fundamental to economics. Economics is all about tradeoffs, but when it comes to MBA programs, there are some institutions that make these tradeoffs less costly from a personal perspective.

For most people, time is their most precious commodity. Between family, friends, work, and hobbies, everyone is trying to fit more activity into the same number of hours every day. Despite the growing number of apps and services available to help us save time, we always seem to have less and less of it. Anything optional, such as furthering your education, is often the first thing to be cut or excluded even if something like an MBA degree ultimately helps in the long run.

A traditional full-time MBA program requires students to quit their current jobs and maybe relocate to another city for two years before reentering the workforce. It’s a method that favors the unattached student, and it subtly discriminates against women given that the average MBA student’s age corresponds to the optimal time for women to start a family.

It’s no surprise that MBA programs struggle to get their female enrollment above 25%. It doesn’t take an MBA to figure out that the return on the investment in education doesn’t add up if a woman plans to exit the workforce, even briefly, to start a family. In a recent article for The Wall Street Journal, authors Nikki Waller and Joann S Lublin explored why more women are not present in the upper ranks of corporate America. They found that worries about balancing work and family life rank among the biggest deterrents for women interested in an executive role.

A program format for work-life balance

So what is the solution? A program that offers flexibility and that fits into a student’s life rather than making the student fit their life around their education. Students should not have to make the tradeoff between their education, their career, and their family. They should not have to put their life on hold in order to further their education.

An online MBA degree provides students with options. So long as they have an internet connection, they don’t have to miss out on achieving life goals or taking advantage of opportunities a less-flexible degree wouldn’t permit. I started my online MBA program after having more than decade-long career on Wall Street. I wanted to launch my own business, but lacked some of the knowledge and skills that an MBA would provide. A full-time program wasn’t an option given my experience level and geographical constraints. I simply wasn’t willing to relocate my entire life. An online MBA was the only option for me at that point in my life. 

It enabled me to travel to Los Angeles to research manufacturers without having to worry about missing class. Several assignments that I completed during the program highlighted gaps in the women’s apparel market, and ultimately shaped my business model to sell luxury-quality clothing at an affordable price directly to consumers. Speed to market when launching a product is critical to for success. My online program enabled me to simultaneously gather feedback from professors while moving my business forward. 

The key was having an option. It’s a necessity for women who gave up their education in order to have a family earlier in life and are now trying to work their way up the corporate ladder. And for women who are planning to have families and cannot afford to take the risk of leaving their current jobs. They shouldn’t have to choose one or the other.