Should I go back to school for an MBA?

If you’ve considered pursuing an MBA degree but aren’t sure if the investment is worth the payoff, you’ll want to do a cost-benefit analysis to determine what’s the right decision for you.

Costs to Completing an MBA

Obviously, an MBA is not free. Most students experience the following costs when pursuing an MBA degree:

• Time – How long it takes to complete an MBA depends on what type of MBA program you attend. If you attend college full time, you can finish an MBA program in one to two years. If you attend  night school, it will probably take you somewhere between four and five years. Online MBA programs usually fall somewhere in between these two ranges.
• Money – Online programs cost anywhere from $5,000 to $45,000, but conventional MBA programs can cost anywhere from $60,000 to $130,000, depending on how expensive of a college you attend. Before signing up for an MBA, you should check into various forms of financial aid. If you are working full time, check with your place of employment to see if they will pay for your schooling. Your place of employment may have certain limitations as to what programs they will or will not support, so don’t assume a “yes” grants you a free ticket to any MBA program you choose. Make sure to work with your Human Resources representative to discover exactly what programs your workplace supports and what procedures you must follow to get the financial aid.
• Effort – When pursuing an MBA, you’re going to have to put some of your life on hold while you focus on your education. Make sure your personal life can handle the sacrifices demanded by an MBA before you sign up.

Benefits of an MBA

While there are significant costs to getting an MBA, the benefits are tremendous. Consider the following:

• Interview advantages – While an MBA will put your resume on the top of any employment pile, you’ll find the MBA internships available through your educational institution are incredibly valuable “ins”. A large percentage of corporations hire through MBA internship pools since they get to test you out before taking you on full time.
• On-the-Job Advantages – If you’re wondering how an MBA will affect your current job, you’ll be pleased to hear that according to the Association of MBAs (which surveys MBA graduates every few years, recording statistics on salary increases and job advancements) 59% of their MBA graduates advanced to senior management or corporate board positions within five years of getting their MBAs.
• Long-Term Salary Advantages – You probably know an MBA will open up better-paying jobs for you, but what you might now know is that the average person who holds and MBA found their salary increased by 53% within three to five years of getting their MBA.

MBA Options

There are several ways to pursue an MBA degree. The following are the three most popular options:

Conventional MBA Programs
If you’ve got the time to go to school full time, you’ll get the biggest bang out of your buck since you’ll finish the program as quickly as possible, launching you into a higher income bracket sooner. Many students find it works best for them to go straight into grad school immediately after receiving their bachelor’s degree. Students who choose to pursue conventional MBA programs cite the following advantages:
• Concentrated education, allowing them to immerse themselves completely in the material and learn at an accelerated rate
• Beneficial classroom interactions, allowing them to learn from others and network for future job opportunities
• Access to professors, teaching assistants, and resources in a live format

Night School

If you can’t focus 100% on your MBA program, you may need to fit it into night school. Many MBA programs are designed to accommodate a demanding 40-hour workweek schedule. You’ll find professors who teach MBA night school classes will try to set you up for success by offering the following advantages:
• Pacing is set to fit a working person’s schedule
• Additional flexibility with assignments and class attendance, again focused at affording you every advantage as you work your day job and attend school
• You’ll be surrounded with other students in your same situation, so you may find others who are willing to form beneficial study groups, support you as you juggle two demanding commitments at once, and who can help you network for future job opportunities

Online MBA Programs

Online MBA programs are growing in popularity. One popular online MBA program—The University of Phoenix—has experienced a year-to-year enrollment growth of over 50% every single year since its inception. Likewise, Regis University has gone from 14 students to just under 2,000 students registered in their MBA program. Online MBA programs offer the following advantages over conventional MBA programs:
• Flexibility of schedule
• Self-pacing options
• Convenience (what is more convenient than studying in your home office?)
• Extra resources such as online discussion forums (which are less intimidating than asking questions in a live classroom), online libraries, and online tutors
• Lower cost (usually, but not always)
• Access to teachers and teaching assistants via email and chat rooms, which many students find inviting

Making the Decision

Only you can determine if an MBA is right for you and your situation. Weigh the costs, talk to your employer or school counselor, and examine your career goals. If the answers line up in favor, then go for it! Certainly one of the available options will fit your life situation.

“Today the so-called ‘new’ media are more influential than ever, living as we do in an ‘always-on’ world,” Gregory Zerovnik, director of business programs at Touro, said. “That’s why we have developed an MBA degree that focuses on understanding these effects and how to deal with them more effectively.”

Online Master of Business Administration

The MBA program consists of nine core courses, including one in media psychology, followed by three advanced courses in one of five concentration areas, topped off with a Capstone course that brings together all of the student’s learning into a project-based exercise. The five concentrations are business strategy, finance, management, marketing, and communications and media.

This degree will also provide graduates with important business and leadership skills. And if a student’s career aspirations include leadership with their current organization or in some other organization, the MBA can help him or her reach such a goal. Additionally, this degree was created to provide students with knowledge to apply in key management areas, such as Finance or Strategic Management.

Whether the student has an undergraduate degree in business already or a degree in some other area, this program will provide graduates with broad managerial skills needed to lead effectively in businesses of any size. The core of the program prepares students for both the behavioral and business activities sides of leadership. Students in the program will also develop a deeper background in one area of specialization by selecting a concentration in their key area of interest.

The courses are three units each, with 8-week terms. The next term will begin in August.

“Touro students gain the value of a solid professional education that develops their business expertise and fosters achievement through ethical practices couched in a four-decade tradition of academic excellence,” Zerovnik explained. “The new online programs allow considerable control over the pace of individual student progress, with the ability to balance the demands of work and family while pursuing an advanced degree.”

Learn more about the MBA program here.

About Touro University Worldwide

Touro University Worldwide is a nonprofit institution and is based in Westlake Village, California. The university was chartered in 1970 and has about 19,000 students currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College has branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in New York, Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, Paris and Florida. Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus, as well as Touro College Los Angeles and Touro University Worldwide, are separately accredited institutions within the Touro system.

Touro is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and also offers online degrees in organizational and leadership psychology, media and communications psychology and marriage and family therapy.

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Online vs. On-campus

Some believe that higher education in business administration means honing better communication skills and thus face-to-face interaction with humans must take place during the learning process. Therefore, the advantage of physically going to a school allows you to not only sit in class and interact with your peers and instructors, but also encourages you to join professional on-campus clubs that meet regularly. There is no doubt that such networking can only help an MBA student develop better interpersonal skills that serve a business career well.

However, you have to ask yourself does human-interaction have to take place the entire two years it takes to get an MBA in order for the degree to be effective? The purists of higher education will always say yes. But then again these are probably the decedents of the same folks who thought women shouldn’t be allowed to attend and graduate from Harvard (quick sidebar: the male and female students of Harvard and Radcliffe were not completely comingled until 1972). Culture changes over time and as a result higher education has to change, too, which sometimes steps on the sensitive toes of tradition.

The Dilemma

With the economy in a perpetually precarious state people are reluctant to quit their jobs to go back to school (and rightly so). However, getting an advanced degree could mean the difference between a higher pay grade or simply keeping your job. Online education allows someone with an established business career to earn an MBA without as much interruption as it would take to attend a brick-and-mortar school. Anyone who wants to pursue an MBA should be allowed to try, at the school of their choice, regardless of their job status or where they live. Why? Because now technology makes online and on-campus degrees virtually the same, which opens the door to higher education for a whole new demographic of people. This does not dilute higher education, but rather increases the education level of the overall population. In the long run that’s a good thing for everyone.

The Solution

Apparently University of North Carolina, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Indiana University, Duke University, and Spain’s IE Business School all think so, too. These all have highly-acclaimed business schools which now off offer online MBA degrees, in most cases with online classes taught by the same professors that teach on-campus. Some of them even include short-term residencies in their curriculum. For example, UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School offers weekend residencies worldwide as part of their online MBA program. And Duke’s Fuqua School of Business includes five brief residencies, even though the bulk of the coursework is done online. Although not required by most online MBA programs, residencies overcome the objection that online MBA degrees don’t include any interpersonal training.

Since traditional universities now (finally) offer online versions of their advanced degree programs (even though online colleges have been around for more than 10 years), it would seem that YES, online MBA programs do have a place in higher education. That’s not to say that a 21-year-old with a brand, spanking new undergraduate degree shouldn’t immediately pursue an MBA at a brick-and-mortar college if he or she has the opportunity to do so. But because of our changing world, including an economy that we haven’t seen the likes of since the 1930s, online education should not be disregarded as a lesser option. It is simply ONE option for someone to use as a means of bettering him- or herself.

Regardless of where you decide to get your MBA degree, you have to remember that obtaining your degree is the goal, so pick a college that accommodates YOU. If you’re already established in business why should you give up your career just to go back to school? Turns out you don’t have to, because when it comes to online education there are plenty of learning opportunities for all types of people, no matter where they happen to be in life.

Advance your career with a MBA!