PRICING SUCCESS: RETURN ON INVESTMENT OF


MBA PROGRAMS By Ross Geraghty


When those involved in the business school world – from deans, academics, and school faculty; to applicants, their family, and their friends – ask how much it costs to get on an MBA program, the result often leaves them spluttering into their coffee with shock.


After all, business school requires what can seem, especially to those who have no interest in furthering their business education, an enormous upfront outlay of fees and annually accrued expenses. This is especially true when the MBA candidate, as is very often the case, chooses to study overseas.


Harvard Business School for instance, estimates an annual US$84,000 expenditure for a single MBA student. This includes fees, estimated accommodation and personal costs. However, the figure could tip into the six-figure sum when travel, books, study trips and other outgoings are factored in.


Most schools will have lower fees than Harvard. But for the international student in particular, considering an investment like this naturally requires a great deal of consideration and soul-searching.


Cost Versus Investment


While many will ask 'how much does an MBA program cost?' you’ll note that schools in particular try to avoid the word ‘cost’ wherever possible. The best advice is that business school ought not to be measured as a ‘cost’ but as an ‘investment.’


“An MBA is not like a motor car,” says one Melbourne Business School MBA alumni. “When you buy a


car you use it until, if you’re lucky, you can sell it in a few years’ time at a depreciated fraction of the amount you paid for it. An MBA is the opposite. It appreciates in value over time.”


Even in these stringent times, the MBA is time and again proving its worth as a qualification.


The management degree not only opens up international barriers, but


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