Online MBA advice

First of all - I just want to thank you all for this wonderful forum and the great advice I got a couple of months ago. I was looking for a 2nd bachelors degree and googled "online bachelors" and ended up on this forum. I asked for advise and was convinced by members here to go for a masters instead. 2 months later, I am almost about to complete my masters at WGU (in the next 10 days or so). Its unbelievable that I am getting more than I had ever thought about when I did that google search back in october. I had never heard of the big 3, WGU and all these other schools and never knew what was possible...!

Now, I am planning on getting my MBA after finishing this masters and thought I would ask for advice again. Here are some of my considerations.
a) ROI - Perhaps negligible at least for now. I don't think I will get paid more with an additional MBA degree after I get my masters. Its more of a "Im interested" thing
b) Accreditation - Very important. I am thinking AACSB or ACBSP would be more valuable as long as the cost isn't too much
c) Cost - Considering the ROI, I would like to keep the costs low (around 12K or so)
d) Time - Obviously as fast as possible. WGU would be great here and I haven't ruled it out, but its only RA so I would like to explore more options.
e) I looked at GetEducated but their tuition estimates are not reliable.

So would appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks!

 

Congratulations.

What is your WGU master's degree going to be in?

 

Congratulations!

It hasn't been updated in awhile, but Jonnie's Distance Learning page still has a pretty comprehensive section on DL MBA's, with indicators if they have specialized accreditation in addition to RA;

https://sites.google.com/site/aggietechie/home/dlmba

 

Decimon - MS in IT

Bruce: thanks for the link but is there something which will give a list of cheaper alternatives? I think it's a list of all possible options (without considering the tuition). I clicked on a few of those and the tuition is way more than I am willing to pay. I tried Get educated but their tuition estimates are way off when I compared them to the actual listed tuition on the school's website. Also they only include AACSB which is good but I'm also willing to consider ACBSP if the cost is lower.

 

Here is some info: 10 Most Affordable Online MBA Programs of 2016

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the info but it's there.

 

There is a recent thread about the Colorado State University - Pueblo online MBA. The program is brand new, can be completed in a year and apparently will be very cost-efficient.

Colorado State University-Pueblo to Offer Online MBA | FIND MBA

May be worth checking out.

 

If you work in IT I don't see much value in getting an MBA unless you were to attend one of the top, very, very top schools. Even if your ambitions are to go into upper IT management your current (or soon to be complete) Masters is definitely more that enough. You've certainly seen by now many individuals with degrees in other disciplines, some with only Associate degrees and others with no college degrees excelling in the IT field.

 

I agree. Hence I said that the ROI on my MBA is very low or close to nil. I am just interested in doing it for my own sake. That's why I want to keep the costs low. For people who don't have a masters or think an MBA would add to their career, something like the online UIUC iMBA for 20K holds an excellent value. But I think 3 years and 20K is too much of an investment for me.

 

I tried to find the tuition for that program but there are no specifics. Going by the graduate out of state tuition it's going to cost around $23-$24K. Over budget for me.

 

I'm a bit biased, but I'm a big fan of the University of Massachusetts programs. Amherst (flagship), Lowell, and Dartmouth all offer online MBA's that are AACSB-accredited, with varying costs. The Amherst-Isenberg program is $33K which, while the most prestigious of the campuses, is likely out of your price range.

The Lowell and Dartmouth programs are both 30 credits (manageable in less than two years) and under $20K; the Lowell program comes in just under that at $19K and the Dartmouth (smallest and least prestigious campus of the system) program is just over $16K. Not bad for an AACSB program with universal name recognition.

University of Massachusetts Online

 

Sorry. It would have been better for me to read all the posts, including your original one, first! OOPS.

I'm all for "learning for the sake of learning". As long as you don't need to borrow money I say go for it. Sorry I don't have any reasonable suggestions.

 

I could have sworn that I read something about the tuition being different for online programs with the conclusion that the program will be "affordable". I think it is definitely worth a call before ruling anything out.

 

Here's one that looks to meet your criteria: University of Texas of the Permian Basin Online Master of Business Administration | UTPB Online

100% online, AACSB, $261/Credit ($7,830 - $9396, depending on whether you have an academic business background), 8 week classes mean it's possible to complete within 12 months.

The school is part of the excellent University of Texas system, albeit from one of its lesser-known campuses out in West Texas oil/HS football country of Friday Night Lights fame. Still, I think it checks enough of your boxes to give it a long look. Best of luck to you.

 

Awesome. Thanks!

 

I agree. I'm not big into borrowing money. I believe that education is valuable as long as it doesn't get you into debt. I don't have any student loans. I could have got into a better school for my undergrad (had admits) but I chose a state school that gave me a scholarship. With the in state tuition I basically got a free ride. Couple of months ago, I chose WGU because I could save both time and money and ended up doing precisely that. So yeah, I wanna learn, but not by paying premium. I really like the UIUC iMBA program for 20K (top 40 and great alumni network) but I feel that shelling out 20K and 3 years of my time isn't worth it. That's why I'm looking for under 12K programs. I'll be self funding.

 

I see where you're coming from here, but remember that the perception of/"prestige" of an MBA program is closely correlated with the starting salaries for grads. You may shell out a little more for the "better" degree, but it also can provide a better opportunity to pay off in spades.

 

You are probably right Tom. But I think that matters more for recent grads than someone who already has a masters drgree and a career. And how much more also matters. Like I said, each person is in a unique situation and we need to do the Return on investment/Payback period and opportunity cost calculations before making these decisions.

 

Usi

Have you checked out USI's AACSB-accredited Online MBA program? It's 10 classes, 1 every 7 weeks, 18 months total, $12.5k

Learn About Online MBA Program | University of Southern Indiana

 

Most of the more reputable programs require at least 4 or 5 years of work experience prior to admitting a student so in most cases, the salaries that I'm referring to are taking into account the existing career.

 

Southeastern Oklahoma State University

AACSB accredited

Under $12k

Online MBA Programs | Southeastern Oklahoma State University