Hello all- Let me introduce myself. My name is Tiare and I have been following your board for a little while. I received my BS last December after going back to school as a non-traditional student (read: I was WAY older than most everyone else, including most professors). I am in a job I love with a start up biotech company. I have been looking at an online MBA for a while. Schools I am considering are Ashford (top choice because it's lowest tuition of all I have considered and a B&M school too), Walden (high-tech MBA goes with my career/undergrad stuff), and Ellis College (cause the admissions person has called me a million times?) Anyone have any advice, gripes, complaints, accolades for any of these schools? I'd love to get some first-hand feedback on the way things run. Thanks so much!
Welcome aboard, Tiare! Here's a list of online MBA programs recently compiled by U.S. News & W.R.: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/tables/mba_reg.htm Perhaps there are some additional candidates for you on that list. By the way, I'm curious about the tuition cost and other particulars of the Ashford MBA. (I didn't see it on the website after drilling into a few suspect pages.) Moreover, Ashford is not listed on the U.S. News & W.R. list. If you would like to share any details about Ashford or the other programs you've examined, that would be helpful to others who are cruising this board. Best wishes, Dave
Re: Re: newbie here Ashford University is regionally accredited. While these tuition and fees are for on-campus study, the fees for distance education are probably somewhat similar.
Ashford is RA which is important to me. MBA tuition is $555/credit hour times 33 hours for a total of $18,315. Application fee is $55. Books run around $130/course. Admissions offered me $100 credit for first book. Not a lot but 100 bucks is a 100 bucks. There isn't a matriculation fee. I really liked American Sentinel's program/classes but they aren't RA and I was worried that the degree would be worthless. Compared to the RA schools the tuition is a bargain at $12,600 total (but only if it's recognized). Walden is $665/hour x 36 hours for a total of $23,940. Ellis is about $21,528 total. Not sure, couldn't read my writing..lol.
There's another kind of accreditation that's just for business schools called AACSB that some people think is really important. (It's something that schools would have in addition to regional accreditation.) There are a number of schools that have it and offer distance MBA programs and that aren't too expensive. University of Western Kentucky is one, I think? If this interests you, I'm sure others can pipe in with a list. -=Steve=-
Colorado State's Distance MBA is another one that comes to mind, but Western Kentucky's is one of the least expensive AACSB programs. The U.S. News & W.R. list is current, so that is a good place to start in reviewing all the options; I believe that AACSB status is marked on the list. Sorry to be so brief but Sunday is a busy day of church and family activities... Dave
I'll be finishing my M.B.A. from Ellis here in two weeks and I have enjoyed every second of it. The school is also regionally acreddited through Middle States and the degree comes from N.Y.I.T. with no mention of Ellis, not that it matters of course. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them for ya... No pressure as I'm definitly not one of their pushy admissions counslers... LOL
Tiare, I am curious why you didn't check out instate institution? The East Carolina University offers online MBA program, and it is only $ 7,000.00 for the entire program. Besides, East Carolina University is accredited by regional and AACSB (Top Business Accredited Agency).
I second TEKMAN on this. East Carolina seems to be a much better choice. Tuition for in-state residents is only $214/credit hour for the online MBA program. Website for East Carolina Distance Education - http://www.ecu.edu/options/