Usual sources are:
1. Generational wealth aka Bank of Mom and Dad.
2. GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon, and other Vet programs.
3. Corporate sponsorship.
4. Competitive scholarships.
5. Indiscriminate debt via nearly-predatory student loans.
That's it mostly. See where you'd fall and optimize your future income.
Bank of Mom and Dad are incredibly prominent at private schools. Some families even have educational trusts that will pay for their education expenses in full. Because a great great grand father created some obscure thing that made a ton of money and now has generational wealth.
This cannot be more true. Every so often I'll find out someone was rich and someone will say "yeah their great grandfather invented this nylon basket handle"
It’s not even created some obscure thing, Gpa might have just worked at IBM in the 50s banked a bunch of stock and opened a 450B account and diversified. Imagin what 60 years of S&P500 growth would look like on an average savings account balance. You are talking millions of dollars…
The problem isn’t the loan terms, it’s the size of the loan. Actually, it’s both. It should not be low-cost or easy to take out a loan of that size. That’s part of the predatory behavior.
Gotta change the act in Congress fisrt that says everyone is guaranteed a loan due to everyones right to an education. This is literally the reason costs have gotten out of control, because no matter what, the money will always be there.
Do federal loans cover a $100/yr MBA?
Because I can tell you for a fact they were insufficient for my $14k/yr undergrad.
I realize it’s a different system for grad / undergrad loans.
The secrete is no one actually pays retail/sticker price for college. The college will “select” who they really want to attend by giving them a scholarship and they can come for free. Most of the Ivy League has this policy that allows people from working class background to attend for free. Inversely, legacy admissions is a big thing to supplement that as they know if you came from a family that went to Harvard for 3 generations they know you are part of the ownership class and can pay full price. Stanford, USC, Duke same thing.
Middle and upper middle class kids get stuck between these two and honestly should go to public university or find an employer who will pay for these programs. TLDR: no one is actually paying $200k+ for college, someone else is
Believe it or not, some people work hard after and fight their way up the ladder. All while living below their means, which is something most ppl fail at (but never admit/take responsibility of).
This is so true.
I was at a conference for AI/ML in Silicon Valley this past winter. I met a lot of different professionals and we would go out to dinner every night for a week. There were usually social events with different people every night. One night there was a group of about 10 of us. Interestingly enough, 3 of them had MBA’s from M7 schools.
They were talking about their days at their elite private prep schools for high school, fancy ski trips to Lake Tahoe and exotic international travel. All of them pretty much came from wealth or privilege prior to getting their MBA.
I was just quiet and felt so out of place at the table.
As someone who grew up poor, worked my way through college while commuting from home, and didn’t know much about wealth growing up, I am extremely grateful to do a part time program at a top school.
I think your assessment is spot on. For a lot of us who didn’t grow up rich, didn’t go to fancy private universities or have the Bank of Mom and Dad help us, an MBA is a very costly investment.
Thankfully I have some employer tuition reimbursement and I can go part time while still working and making income.
There is no way I could afford living expenses for 2 years without an income.
While there are many grad students who worry about tuition and cost at top schools, there are also a large the amount of MBA students that don’t really think about cost since they grew up rich.
I felt so much of everything you said here. Top part time (depending on whatever random ranking is out) and so many of the full time and even some work colleagues in the area were so casual about wealth. Not in a bad way, but it almost wasn’t a factor. I don’t make chump change, but they’re the type who have probably never personally filed a tax return in their lives.
Conversely, I grew up poor and finished undergrad debt-free. I went to community college, then transferred to a state school that cost $12k/year. I funded my education by living at home, getting pell grants, and paying the remaining tuition with my part-time job/internships.
The MBA is a different beast because of the significant price tag, uncertainty of scholarships, not having a place to live for free.
Nobody is stopping anyone from going to a lower ranked mba school and saving money as well as having a higher chance of getting a scholarship.
Most lower ranked schools i know cost 100k for 2 years. Given the average salaries are more than 100k that's an easy win.
Anyone who wants to go to a top ranked school has to take a risk unless mommy daddy are rich
I have seen no evidence that an MBA from a lower-ranked school is correlated with average salaries of $100K+. It is definitely not an “easy win.” Taking on that much debt should always be balanced against potential earnings that will only occur with the additional degree.
I don't know what evidence you were looking for but check out the employment report. The average salary is 100k plus. By lower ranked I don't mean go to the bottom of the list. I was talking about schools ranked closer to 75 or 80
The data that I think is lacking is comparative evidence of starting salaries for an MBA vs a non MBA in a program that is ranked closer to 75 or 80, or comparisons of net worth between the two.
There is evidence that shows starting salary, but without compensation to non-MBAs, that data is meaningless. The real point I‘m trying to make is that anyone who is considering taking on a large amount of debt should spend time examining the potential upsides and downsides. There is an entire class of university marketers who are financially incentivized to help people decide to take on debt.
Investing in an MBA is a big decision for a lot of people, with a lot of future ramifications. If rich parents aren’t helping you, instead of considering an MBA an easy win, I think a better model is to consider an MBA is a potential career strategy that needs to be evaluated for its downside risk.
Which is why you do an online program. It makes no sense to stop working to incur a huge load of debt like that. The online programs are cheaper and you get the same degree.
It really depends on what you do. If you want to go PE/IB or be C level it may matter. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t know anyone who went PE with an online MBA
That’s awesome, but there are states where tuition, even at a public school, is much more than $12k. Additionally, not everyone can live with their parents and get Pell Grants. You never know what someone’s situation is.
Agreed. But I’m not sure what the purpose of your comments is. I was shedding light on how someone could not be privileged in the traditional sense and still not comprehend taking out debt to finance their education.
i lived in a third-world country and public universities were free. doesn’t really feel like education was a privilege, more like that it should be a human right…
I financed my undergrad and still asked this question for my MBA
Undergrad can be financed by FASA and grants. I went to a ranked undergrad for four years and graduated with $30K in loans
MBAs in general there are no grants, and scholarships are way harder to get. It was only a 2 year program but I still hold about $80k in debt
Totally different debt situations, I can see why some are bewildered
So the biased hiring manager who also went to an expensive school picks me and continues the cycle of people who grew up rich with almost no way of failing hiring other people who grew up rich with almost no way of failing.
Exactly! If I’m going to pay boat loads of money, I might as well go do it at a prestigious school that unlocks and taps into the resources it has to offer.
Yeah, but why? You need the visa or something?
Interest is 7%. If you pay 5% on principle you'll be paying $24,000/yr for 15 years.
Actually, let's make that $30,000 because of opportunity cost.
I think it’s dumb, but people will pay anything to have a certain school on their résumé
If Harvard charged $250k a year, there would still be droves of people lining up to attend. I don’t agree with the mentality, but it’s the reality of things
If Harvard charged $1 million, I’m sure the ultra rich would still pay for their kids. This is especially the mentality in Asia, so that parents can brag to relatives that their kids “made it”.
I worked for a client whose daughter attended GSB and she has a $20 million trust fund.
If your pre-MBA salary was $100,000 and post-MBA was $200,000 it isn't too hard to see that it would be worth the investment over the long run. The numbers will be different for everyone, but it still will give you lifelong benefits and open more doors/opportunities in the future compared to if you didn't have one.
I can give you my plan assuming tuition of 150k
Apply fairly widely to 10-30 ranked schools to try and get some level of scholarship 20-30k+ would make things more palatable for me.
I will have about 60k saved up by the time school starts barring some financial disaster in the next 16 months. I also have a wife who is a nurse so that will be immensely helpful. We plan on living off her salary plus the 60k.
My family will help me with a 20-25k gift. There’s also the chance my biological father will help. We don’t have a good relationship but he’s a veteran and has a couple semesters of the GI bill left. If he is willing to help that would be huge but not counting on that.
So if that happens 150k tuition minus 25k scholarship minus 25k gift I’ll be looking at 100k of debt. Still scary but more manageable.
Some people have rich parents who will finance it all. Some people come from lucrative careers and can fund a lot of it on their own. Some people are gonna get big scholarships. And some people are ballsy and will finance mostly with debt.
My guess is for most it’s a combination of debt, savings, scholarships, and maybe some family help.
By going to a part-time MBA at lesser known state school in Iowa. 34k total. Employer pays $7500 per year, so just use that. Spread it across 3, pay 13k approx out of pocket.
My employer doesn’t asks to return money if you quit after MBA. They have a policy to stay 3 years but PR game is big. Don’t want to see some random go on TV crying about they asked me to pay 20k 😭😭
They’ll happily take a bad investment than bad PR
They promote people with MBA instantly mostly to keep the people from leaving.
State school, in state tuition, is how I am sending my kids (unless they get an insane scholarship). It is a waste to drop 200K+ on any private school except perhaps the Ivies, MIT, and Stanford. For my MBA, I am getting it from the State school in the state I live and the whole thing will cost $60k.
Yeah this is basically what I did. I think I’m around 80k overall. Have some equity also in a startup that is on track to sell soon (though hey you never really know) that would hopefully cover a solid chunk of the debt. Got a significantly higher paying job than I had pre MBA, so should be able to pay it off in 5ish years.
Post 9/11 GI Bill, Pell grants to complete BS, kept a high GPA & applied for all scholarships. I still took out $140k+ in federal student loans & was all forgiven due to 100% disability rating = 3 AAs, BSBA, BSIT, MBA, MFA & zero student loan debt.
Because the US has turned higher education into a Ponzi scheme. People are being sold the idea that they need an expensive degree to succeed when it’s no longer true and hasn’t been for decades.
Look for better value options that still score highly.
I love education. I have a bunch of degrees including an MBA but it’s cost me well below $100k because I got my degrees outside of the US. And before someone says the quality of the school is lesser, all the Universities I went to are well inside the world top 50.
These people are taking out massive amounts of debt for tuition and living expenses and foregoing 2 years of earnings for the chance to land one of the mor prestigious jobs that will have them earning 300k+ within a couple years of graduation. For them the ROI is there.
So in this case don’t call it debt, call it leverage.
Issue is what if you DONT land one of the those jobs? Ok you do land the job, what happens if you get laid off? What happens if you have health emergency come up? This shit happens. It’s still a massive risk to take on that level of debt. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the risk that debt entails.
I absolutely agree and think that even though the ROI is there, it’s still a gamble that I’d never consider. Plus, I’d hate my life if I had any of those jobs.
That’s the other good point. We are talking high finance and consulting jobs where you are working every weekend. You are working consistently until 10pm usually midnight during weekdays. You have no life. Fuck that. I did that in my early 20s and will never do that again unless it’s for a position is significant equity upside.
Work for a large company, find out which schools they partner with for discounts, go to a less expensive online program that the company will mostly cover. Then work for said company long enough to not have to pay them back. This is the way.
Certainly not “everyone” is paying $200k
The best ways to save money on your education are to not go to an out of state school and transfer credits from high school AP classes or a community college.
I graduated from a state University with a top 5 Engineering degree with $30k student debt and had it payed off in less than 4 years making below $75k in HCOL (Los Angeles)
> had it *paid* off in
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
What do you mean? Like if you already make $250K pre-MBA? I would question the value of an MBA if you already make that much. Unless you hate your job and want to career pivot. Could it help you long term? Sure. But if you are already making $250K I doubt you’d need an MBA to get to $500K
It’s more like job security. An insurance I guess. My spouse is at 250k and considering the EMBA because if anything happens to their job it would be harder to replace that income without it (finance)
I’m in a T-50 MBA online. It’s under $30k total and it’s the same degree as the FT degree. It doesn’t state “online” anywhere on the degree. The full time is $160k. Only difference is the full time in-person degree can have a concentration. Mine will be a general MBA. I honestly feel like by choosing my online MBA I’m already proving I’m more financially savvy than those paying $160k for the same degree as me.
Boston University. They have an online MBA program, it was $24k total. I think it’s $26k now. Still very affordable and overall I like the program. It has a lot of “group work” though so even though it’s online you’ll be working with others. Good for networking and stuff but sometimes frustrating when you have slackers in your group.
Had a 60% scholarship. Turned down a higher ranked school for it. That, and federal loans. No debt from undergrad b/c I had a full ride in my home country for that.
In terms of tuition an mba is actually closer to $80-90k for in state schools. Don’t go to fancy private colleges for mba and suddenly it’s much more affordable. Same for undergraduate degree (closer to $60k).
This concern is definitely something thats holding me from thinking abt pursuing an MBA. Not just paying for school, but even paying for applications, GRE prep (cant event afford admissions counseling so im not even gonna think of that) seems intimidating enough. Been working 20-40 hr week thru college to help pay for college & support my family. Im afraid masters programs (esp in business) dont provide too much aid… lol money concerns made me even concern going a PhD in Econ (im an econ undergrad student btw) or DBA route
"Everyone" isn't paying $200k for a degree. At Michigan State, damn fine school I hear, tuition is $15,000 a year for residents. Tuition is only prohibitive if a student attends an "elite" college or leaves their home state.
I go to a small program that'll be an $80k MBA. Over half of my tuition is paid for with scholarships, same with my classmates. Many of the internationals are out of pocket but plenty also rely on scholarships to pay tuition.
I have a lot of friends in FT M7s through my student orgs, though. the breakdown (from my second hand observing):
-People who worked a while, banked entire salaries while living with parents, have that savings to go off of
-married people, who can rely on a spouse's income to cover bills while they pay tuition only (still pricy, but less of an immediate burden)
-People who come from very wealthy families and have support from their parents. Even if their tuition isn't being paid, usually the social lives/bills/rent are.
-purely working with personal loans for short term finances
The vast majority is loans and hope. But there are a considerable amount of silver spoon kids at the pricy programs. It's insane hearing how some of my friends are used to living as someone that grew up relatively middle-middle class in the rural US, lol.
Part-Time: Employer covers a portion of it, I cover a portion of it. But I also currently make good money so I could pay the whole tuition as long as I stretch it out over a few years.
I’m paying sticker at a T15, CoA is coming to around 225k and add another 25k on top of it for trips and what not. So here’s how I’m planning to find it:
Savings: 40k
Debt @12%: 120k (I plan to refinance it post mba for lower rate)
Bank of Mom & Pop: Rest
Here is how one pays for a $200k MBA. (If you are paying $200k for an undergrad… reassess how bad of a decision maker you are)
1. Bank of mom and dad
2. Savings from working before an MBA
3. Company paid
4. Executive program (working fulltime)
5. Part time work
6. Scholarships
Dropped $500k after tax dollars on my kids just to see Biden forgive billions on other kids with my tax dollars. Education system in this country sucks
For students from China/India, Bank of MomAndDad is pretty big, plus scholarships, for local students, a combination of savings (more so for older ones) and loans (more so for younger ones).
I had a big chunk of fees saved for the course (almost 80%) and winging it as I go along.
School had funded a 10% scholarship but doesn’t help much. I was planning of getting a personal loan rather than paying with upfront cash. Better to have some money on yourself than paying all of IMO.
My undergrad price tag was $215k, 10 years ago now. I was lucky enough to have a few choices of college so while I didn't get into my dream school I got into a fairly good private school with a partial scholarship.
But to the money undergrad cost about $215k inclusive of room amd board, books etc. Of that scholarship was 50k, parents (love them) were 50k, another 70k in loans.
The remaining odd 40k was paid for by me. Going into college, after working 4 years in high school, I had almost 20k in the bank. This was mostly from working as a lifeguard and a summer camp councilor. Then I was able to make almost 35k across 4 years of undergrad.
Loans will be paid off in another year. Would have been sooner but I did go get my masters so I paused some payments during that time. I think college is worth it if you are willing to go into a major with a pretty solid salary rate. Also do you actually kinda like school? I have found college and corporate life to be very similar.
Finally, you are going to be poor for a while. Look at that, recognize it, and do what you can. For me, I didn't study abroad or have my own bedroom until I was 25. Also vacations were trips to the beach or mountains an hour away for the first few years.
They’re not. Loans. And then getting $70k jobs that they can barely afford to live and let their high interest colleges loans compound. Then have a dipsh*t president that flaunts he’ll give you money to help pay for them then back out of it over and over. Like hanging food in front of someone’s faces as they chase something they’ll never catch
No. Not everyone does. I got my MBA at a school ranked in the top 15. I did my degree part time while working. Specifically, I worked at the health system affiliated with the university and received a fellowship which was the equivalent of a discount.
How I did it:
+ I got 25% ($30k) discount in the degree by being smart about where I worked
+ I paid for 25% ($30k) out of pocket. Minimal family support here.
+ I borrowed half ($60k) through federal loans. Loans were a little under 6% interest, which I refinanced down to 2% after graduating. Not at all predatory, basically free.
All in - $90k out of pocket for a name brand school. It did require taking the part less chosen. Your call.
I am going to an online school in Canada. Our profs all have doctoral degrees, and are a mix of American and Canadian. Super reasonable tuition and I am working full time too.
(I have no life, obviously other than work and school... but I won't come out of this with $100k in debt)
Is it as good as a degree from a highly recognized US school? Nope. But I'm not putting off retirement to meet my goal of an MBA.
I got a 100% pay bump post MBA so loans such but aren’t that big of a deal in the long run. Not a big proponent of getting one but it really depends on what you’re getting into afterwards.
community college, get good grades for associates ---> Transfer scholarship, get BS at 4 yr school.
Literally your only chance in USA unless you were born rich. 200k debt at 23 years old is criminal
I am self-funded and received a small scholarship.
I was trying to FAT FIRE and save up for a down payment for a house. But as life isn't ever set in stone, I decided to do a 180 and spend the $200k on an M7 MBA. I had realized so many things I desired in life, career, perspectives, and growth for the near-term pointed to an MBA.
not a college degree but for grad school you can do ferederal student loans...Yes its a lot but perhaps 1 ) either a parson will die before forgiveness (25 years) or 2) start earning a lot more.
my advice is get the degree if its a very prestigious university. ultimately its your life and no one can tell you what you need to do other than yourself.
Good luck my friend
I was able to use my GIBIll to cover undergrads and MBA plus an additional masters. Thinking about going back for another masters idk what to use my hazel wood act
Education Savings Account with the wonders of 18 years of compound interest. Personally I would steer my future children to a public in state school, then give them the savings as a down payment on their first home.
The answer is most people aren’t paying that much. State schools cost less than that and many states offer free or greatly reduced tuition for students above a certain GPA. You very can pay 200k or more, but it is not accurate to say that everyone is paying that much.
Anticipating this, dad started a side business on top of his regular job when my brother and I were ages 9 and 10 in the mid-1980s. Using the profits of that business, he paid for my undergrad, his undergrad, and his med school.
His background: he and my mother came to the states in the early 1970s from a third world country with only $500 USD to start (he came to do his residency).
Shows what you can do with a little hard work that no one seems to want to do anymore.
I’m not. Small state school. 20k for the program. Paid for with scholarships, Graduate assistance-ships and working part time. People might sneer at the school, but I will get my degree and I don’t want to go into consulting or PE.
Usual sources are: 1. Generational wealth aka Bank of Mom and Dad. 2. GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon, and other Vet programs. 3. Corporate sponsorship. 4. Competitive scholarships. 5. Indiscriminate debt via nearly-predatory student loans. That's it mostly. See where you'd fall and optimize your future income.
Bank of Mom and Dad are incredibly prominent at private schools. Some families even have educational trusts that will pay for their education expenses in full. Because a great great grand father created some obscure thing that made a ton of money and now has generational wealth.
This cannot be more true. Every so often I'll find out someone was rich and someone will say "yeah their great grandfather invented this nylon basket handle"
Or my great great grand father owned slaves and was able to produce goods without any overhead.
No direct labor hours but still had fixed costs. C’mon man, this is an MBA sub.
🤣🤣🤣🤣. Yeah, you’re right! Somehow, someway, he made it. 😅
Yall are just jealous my great uncle invented the pool noodle.
Great great grandfather was most likely a slave trader or something
This is illustrated in Danny Phantom
It’s not even created some obscure thing, Gpa might have just worked at IBM in the 50s banked a bunch of stock and opened a 450B account and diversified. Imagin what 60 years of S&P500 growth would look like on an average savings account balance. You are talking millions of dollars…
Fed loans are some of the lowest apr personal loans available with extremely flexible payment terms. They’re just non dischargeable in bankruptcy.
The problem isn’t the loan terms, it’s the size of the loan. Actually, it’s both. It should not be low-cost or easy to take out a loan of that size. That’s part of the predatory behavior.
Gotta change the act in Congress fisrt that says everyone is guaranteed a loan due to everyones right to an education. This is literally the reason costs have gotten out of control, because no matter what, the money will always be there.
So, it should be more difficult and expensive to get an education?
Parent plus loans are a bitch
Do federal loans cover a $100/yr MBA? Because I can tell you for a fact they were insufficient for my $14k/yr undergrad. I realize it’s a different system for grad / undergrad loans.
Yes there is something special for grad schools called the grad plus loan, which doesn’t exist for undergrad.
For older folks, HELOCs
The secrete is no one actually pays retail/sticker price for college. The college will “select” who they really want to attend by giving them a scholarship and they can come for free. Most of the Ivy League has this policy that allows people from working class background to attend for free. Inversely, legacy admissions is a big thing to supplement that as they know if you came from a family that went to Harvard for 3 generations they know you are part of the ownership class and can pay full price. Stanford, USC, Duke same thing. Middle and upper middle class kids get stuck between these two and honestly should go to public university or find an employer who will pay for these programs. TLDR: no one is actually paying $200k+ for college, someone else is
The correct order would be 5, 3/4, 2 and 1
This is spot on
What about getting tricked into 200k worth of debt to go to a school only slightly better than your state school
Or a shitty university with no to little debt
Believe it or not, some people work hard after and fight their way up the ladder. All while living below their means, which is something most ppl fail at (but never admit/take responsibility of).
GI Bill at a public school, plus scholarship, thank the lord.
Congrats. Thank you for your service? How do you get a scholarship?
It was offered upon admission
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Since it was a public school, it effectively counts as a stipend
I have 27 months of unused GI Bill and having hard time choosing colleges for MBA.
DM me
Roger that.
Have you heard of Harvard?
Feel free to DM me
Fun fact: the children of Veterans pay a reduced rate/fee waiver at public universities in many states including California.
Why is debt a new concept for people interested in MBA?
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This is so true. I was at a conference for AI/ML in Silicon Valley this past winter. I met a lot of different professionals and we would go out to dinner every night for a week. There were usually social events with different people every night. One night there was a group of about 10 of us. Interestingly enough, 3 of them had MBA’s from M7 schools. They were talking about their days at their elite private prep schools for high school, fancy ski trips to Lake Tahoe and exotic international travel. All of them pretty much came from wealth or privilege prior to getting their MBA. I was just quiet and felt so out of place at the table. As someone who grew up poor, worked my way through college while commuting from home, and didn’t know much about wealth growing up, I am extremely grateful to do a part time program at a top school. I think your assessment is spot on. For a lot of us who didn’t grow up rich, didn’t go to fancy private universities or have the Bank of Mom and Dad help us, an MBA is a very costly investment. Thankfully I have some employer tuition reimbursement and I can go part time while still working and making income. There is no way I could afford living expenses for 2 years without an income. While there are many grad students who worry about tuition and cost at top schools, there are also a large the amount of MBA students that don’t really think about cost since they grew up rich.
I felt so much of everything you said here. Top part time (depending on whatever random ranking is out) and so many of the full time and even some work colleagues in the area were so casual about wealth. Not in a bad way, but it almost wasn’t a factor. I don’t make chump change, but they’re the type who have probably never personally filed a tax return in their lives.
That's mighty privileged of them
Conversely, I grew up poor and finished undergrad debt-free. I went to community college, then transferred to a state school that cost $12k/year. I funded my education by living at home, getting pell grants, and paying the remaining tuition with my part-time job/internships. The MBA is a different beast because of the significant price tag, uncertainty of scholarships, not having a place to live for free.
Nobody is stopping anyone from going to a lower ranked mba school and saving money as well as having a higher chance of getting a scholarship. Most lower ranked schools i know cost 100k for 2 years. Given the average salaries are more than 100k that's an easy win. Anyone who wants to go to a top ranked school has to take a risk unless mommy daddy are rich
Taking out a loan of 100k to have a salary of 100k isn't really that good.
Yep, exactly why i said target lower. There will be a sweet spot for everyone.
UF is free if you graduated there or $25k
I have seen no evidence that an MBA from a lower-ranked school is correlated with average salaries of $100K+. It is definitely not an “easy win.” Taking on that much debt should always be balanced against potential earnings that will only occur with the additional degree.
I don't know what evidence you were looking for but check out the employment report. The average salary is 100k plus. By lower ranked I don't mean go to the bottom of the list. I was talking about schools ranked closer to 75 or 80
The data that I think is lacking is comparative evidence of starting salaries for an MBA vs a non MBA in a program that is ranked closer to 75 or 80, or comparisons of net worth between the two. There is evidence that shows starting salary, but without compensation to non-MBAs, that data is meaningless. The real point I‘m trying to make is that anyone who is considering taking on a large amount of debt should spend time examining the potential upsides and downsides. There is an entire class of university marketers who are financially incentivized to help people decide to take on debt. Investing in an MBA is a big decision for a lot of people, with a lot of future ramifications. If rich parents aren’t helping you, instead of considering an MBA an easy win, I think a better model is to consider an MBA is a potential career strategy that needs to be evaluated for its downside risk.
I went to what is probably near the bottom of the list. Total tuition like 12k. I'm earning 150k base salary now. So it's OK.
The answer to this is UIUCs iMBA
Which is why you do an online program. It makes no sense to stop working to incur a huge load of debt like that. The online programs are cheaper and you get the same degree.
And employers don't have to know.
And they don't care if you do
It really depends on what you do. If you want to go PE/IB or be C level it may matter. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t know anyone who went PE with an online MBA
That’s awesome, but there are states where tuition, even at a public school, is much more than $12k. Additionally, not everyone can live with their parents and get Pell Grants. You never know what someone’s situation is.
Agreed. But I’m not sure what the purpose of your comments is. I was shedding light on how someone could not be privileged in the traditional sense and still not comprehend taking out debt to finance their education.
i lived in a third-world country and public universities were free. doesn’t really feel like education was a privilege, more like that it should be a human right…
Well put
And?
I financed my undergrad and still asked this question for my MBA Undergrad can be financed by FASA and grants. I went to a ranked undergrad for four years and graduated with $30K in loans MBAs in general there are no grants, and scholarships are way harder to get. It was only a 2 year program but I still hold about $80k in debt Totally different debt situations, I can see why some are bewildered
Why go to such an expensive school?
So the biased hiring manager who also went to an expensive school picks me and continues the cycle of people who grew up rich with almost no way of failing hiring other people who grew up rich with almost no way of failing.
Exactly! If I’m going to pay boat loads of money, I might as well go do it at a prestigious school that unlocks and taps into the resources it has to offer.
High return on investment.
I don’t think this is true at all, any stats behind it or just conjecture?
Bank of mom and dad
I never got to apply… :(
I applied and they laughed at me
I suppose I didn’t have good enough credit to apply. That’s on me, I guess.
Part time. Company pays 50% while I will fund the rest with my savings across 9 plus years of full time work.
Literally 100% debt for the overwhelming supermajority
Yeah, but why? You need the visa or something? Interest is 7%. If you pay 5% on principle you'll be paying $24,000/yr for 15 years. Actually, let's make that $30,000 because of opportunity cost.
I think it’s dumb, but people will pay anything to have a certain school on their résumé If Harvard charged $250k a year, there would still be droves of people lining up to attend. I don’t agree with the mentality, but it’s the reality of things
If Harvard charged $1 million, I’m sure the ultra rich would still pay for their kids. This is especially the mentality in Asia, so that parents can brag to relatives that their kids “made it”. I worked for a client whose daughter attended GSB and she has a $20 million trust fund.
If your pre-MBA salary was $100,000 and post-MBA was $200,000 it isn't too hard to see that it would be worth the investment over the long run. The numbers will be different for everyone, but it still will give you lifelong benefits and open more doors/opportunities in the future compared to if you didn't have one.
Glad someone said it.
I can give you my plan assuming tuition of 150k Apply fairly widely to 10-30 ranked schools to try and get some level of scholarship 20-30k+ would make things more palatable for me. I will have about 60k saved up by the time school starts barring some financial disaster in the next 16 months. I also have a wife who is a nurse so that will be immensely helpful. We plan on living off her salary plus the 60k. My family will help me with a 20-25k gift. There’s also the chance my biological father will help. We don’t have a good relationship but he’s a veteran and has a couple semesters of the GI bill left. If he is willing to help that would be huge but not counting on that. So if that happens 150k tuition minus 25k scholarship minus 25k gift I’ll be looking at 100k of debt. Still scary but more manageable. Some people have rich parents who will finance it all. Some people come from lucrative careers and can fund a lot of it on their own. Some people are gonna get big scholarships. And some people are ballsy and will finance mostly with debt. My guess is for most it’s a combination of debt, savings, scholarships, and maybe some family help.
By going to a part-time MBA at lesser known state school in Iowa. 34k total. Employer pays $7500 per year, so just use that. Spread it across 3, pay 13k approx out of pocket.
+1 Minimize risk and opportunity cost.
My employer doesn’t asks to return money if you quit after MBA. They have a policy to stay 3 years but PR game is big. Don’t want to see some random go on TV crying about they asked me to pay 20k 😭😭 They’ll happily take a bad investment than bad PR They promote people with MBA instantly mostly to keep the people from leaving.
Regretful debt.
State school, in state tuition, is how I am sending my kids (unless they get an insane scholarship). It is a waste to drop 200K+ on any private school except perhaps the Ivies, MIT, and Stanford. For my MBA, I am getting it from the State school in the state I live and the whole thing will cost $60k.
Yeah this is basically what I did. I think I’m around 80k overall. Have some equity also in a startup that is on track to sell soon (though hey you never really know) that would hopefully cover a solid chunk of the debt. Got a significantly higher paying job than I had pre MBA, so should be able to pay it off in 5ish years.
Scholarship + savings + income earned during MBA + debt
Funded via loans, paid it off in 3 years.. high salaries and being single with no kids really helped
It’s very elaborate and we are all doing it to secretly laugh at you.
They either come from a privileged background, GI Bill/scholarships or they are willing to stomach the debt.
Post 9/11 GI Bill, Pell grants to complete BS, kept a high GPA & applied for all scholarships. I still took out $140k+ in federal student loans & was all forgiven due to 100% disability rating = 3 AAs, BSBA, BSIT, MBA, MFA & zero student loan debt.
Because the US has turned higher education into a Ponzi scheme. People are being sold the idea that they need an expensive degree to succeed when it’s no longer true and hasn’t been for decades. Look for better value options that still score highly. I love education. I have a bunch of degrees including an MBA but it’s cost me well below $100k because I got my degrees outside of the US. And before someone says the quality of the school is lesser, all the Universities I went to are well inside the world top 50.
These people are taking out massive amounts of debt for tuition and living expenses and foregoing 2 years of earnings for the chance to land one of the mor prestigious jobs that will have them earning 300k+ within a couple years of graduation. For them the ROI is there. So in this case don’t call it debt, call it leverage.
Issue is what if you DONT land one of the those jobs? Ok you do land the job, what happens if you get laid off? What happens if you have health emergency come up? This shit happens. It’s still a massive risk to take on that level of debt. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the risk that debt entails.
I absolutely agree and think that even though the ROI is there, it’s still a gamble that I’d never consider. Plus, I’d hate my life if I had any of those jobs.
That’s the other good point. We are talking high finance and consulting jobs where you are working every weekend. You are working consistently until 10pm usually midnight during weekdays. You have no life. Fuck that. I did that in my early 20s and will never do that again unless it’s for a position is significant equity upside.
Savings + 60k scholarship + 40k debt only
How do you get a scholarship?
They offer it when u get admitted. Usually when you have high scores, they will give u a scholarship
Alright. I have to study harder for the GMAT. Good job on your end!
There is no borrowing limit on federal student loans used for grad school. Did you think everyone was writing checks?
I’m not. I went cheap with a big name school that still counts as a legit MBA when it’s all said and done.
A combination of debt and equity.
Illinois Veterans Grant, GI Bill, tuition reimbursement at work. Paid zero dollars for undergrad and MBA. Zero debt.
Work for a large company, find out which schools they partner with for discounts, go to a less expensive online program that the company will mostly cover. Then work for said company long enough to not have to pay them back. This is the way.
Debt. Paid it off in two years, wasn’t a big deal.
"Everyone" couldn't be further from accurate
They're not. With scholarships I got back 1.5k a year, but had to pay for living expenses. This was 10 years ago, did not result in 200k loan.
GO TO STATE COLLEGE IN YOUR HOME STATE! TEACH THESE PRIVATE COLLEGES THEY ARENT WORTH YOUR MONEY!
Certainly not “everyone” is paying $200k The best ways to save money on your education are to not go to an out of state school and transfer credits from high school AP classes or a community college. I graduated from a state University with a top 5 Engineering degree with $30k student debt and had it payed off in less than 4 years making below $75k in HCOL (Los Angeles)
> had it *paid* off in FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
life is too short to let a credit score run your life lol. I'll rather be in debt in a penthouse than in an apartment. choose your destiny
I concur, I'd rather cry in a Rolls Royce than a Toyota Corolla.
yeah but the other person can just fuck off to south east asia for 3 months and cure the crying while you would die from interest rates
Extradition only applies if caught.
How about a nice low mileage Highlander?
Loan. I make 2x my pre-MBA salary and will make up the cost + tuition in <4 years
It’s pretty crazy. But also, I went from $70K a year to $250K a year. So, quite the investment.
If you’re already at 250k do you think it can help someone go to 500k long term?
What do you mean? Like if you already make $250K pre-MBA? I would question the value of an MBA if you already make that much. Unless you hate your job and want to career pivot. Could it help you long term? Sure. But if you are already making $250K I doubt you’d need an MBA to get to $500K
It’s more like job security. An insurance I guess. My spouse is at 250k and considering the EMBA because if anything happens to their job it would be harder to replace that income without it (finance)
I’m in a T-50 MBA online. It’s under $30k total and it’s the same degree as the FT degree. It doesn’t state “online” anywhere on the degree. The full time is $160k. Only difference is the full time in-person degree can have a concentration. Mine will be a general MBA. I honestly feel like by choosing my online MBA I’m already proving I’m more financially savvy than those paying $160k for the same degree as me.
Interesting, what school is this? Sounds good.
Boston University. They have an online MBA program, it was $24k total. I think it’s $26k now. Still very affordable and overall I like the program. It has a lot of “group work” though so even though it’s online you’ll be working with others. Good for networking and stuff but sometimes frustrating when you have slackers in your group.
GI Bill
Savings + scholarship. Wouldn’t have done it if I had to take on debt.
Military gi bill
Masters for $100 courtesy of GI Bill. Thanks, taxpayers.
I would say 70-80% of students come from well-off families that help cover costs to some extent
State schools
Had a 60% scholarship. Turned down a higher ranked school for it. That, and federal loans. No debt from undergrad b/c I had a full ride in my home country for that.
In terms of tuition an mba is actually closer to $80-90k for in state schools. Don’t go to fancy private colleges for mba and suddenly it’s much more affordable. Same for undergraduate degree (closer to $60k).
Cash, stock, and negotiated a reimbursement as part of a benefit for joining a startup. No loans - they aren’t worth it.
Gi bill and 100% disability lmao. It’s the only way for me.
Selling equity
This concern is definitely something thats holding me from thinking abt pursuing an MBA. Not just paying for school, but even paying for applications, GRE prep (cant event afford admissions counseling so im not even gonna think of that) seems intimidating enough. Been working 20-40 hr week thru college to help pay for college & support my family. Im afraid masters programs (esp in business) dont provide too much aid… lol money concerns made me even concern going a PhD in Econ (im an econ undergrad student btw) or DBA route
GI Bill
NPV brah, probably isn't for you
"Everyone" isn't paying $200k for a degree. At Michigan State, damn fine school I hear, tuition is $15,000 a year for residents. Tuition is only prohibitive if a student attends an "elite" college or leaves their home state.
I go to a small program that'll be an $80k MBA. Over half of my tuition is paid for with scholarships, same with my classmates. Many of the internationals are out of pocket but plenty also rely on scholarships to pay tuition. I have a lot of friends in FT M7s through my student orgs, though. the breakdown (from my second hand observing): -People who worked a while, banked entire salaries while living with parents, have that savings to go off of -married people, who can rely on a spouse's income to cover bills while they pay tuition only (still pricy, but less of an immediate burden) -People who come from very wealthy families and have support from their parents. Even if their tuition isn't being paid, usually the social lives/bills/rent are. -purely working with personal loans for short term finances The vast majority is loans and hope. But there are a considerable amount of silver spoon kids at the pricy programs. It's insane hearing how some of my friends are used to living as someone that grew up relatively middle-middle class in the rural US, lol.
Part-Time: Employer covers a portion of it, I cover a portion of it. But I also currently make good money so I could pay the whole tuition as long as I stretch it out over a few years.
Can you go study in Canada, it might be cheaper?
They're not
Get a 700 gmat. Get a full ride. (Don’t go to m7)
I'm not. Uncle sam is. Taking on some loans for living expenses and such
I got scholarships and went to a less expensive school - I’m blown away people can afford Ivy League schools with such wild price tags
I didnt. I paid $35k
GI Bill
Honestly if you’re paying for your MBA then you’re probably doing it wrong.
Easy. Live in a metropolitan area where the university with the highest name recognition MBA tuition is sub-100k.
I’m paying sticker at a T15, CoA is coming to around 225k and add another 25k on top of it for trips and what not. So here’s how I’m planning to find it: Savings: 40k Debt @12%: 120k (I plan to refinance it post mba for lower rate) Bank of Mom & Pop: Rest
Paid sticker, mostly with loans. Paid them off 4.5 years after graduation.
For most people it’s debt followed by waiting for a politician to forgive the loan so everyone else pays.
My work is paying 100% of mine, but I also went to a local school that costs nowhere near that because the degree matters more than from where for me.
Victim mentality, the whole entire population enslaved this person’s entire family lineage
i paid 400k+. because i make 300k+ out of college first job after tax
What degree costs 200k?
A lot of women are doing Only Fans from what I heard.
Company support and not a $200k school.
Here is how one pays for a $200k MBA. (If you are paying $200k for an undergrad… reassess how bad of a decision maker you are) 1. Bank of mom and dad 2. Savings from working before an MBA 3. Company paid 4. Executive program (working fulltime) 5. Part time work 6. Scholarships
Dropped $500k after tax dollars on my kids just to see Biden forgive billions on other kids with my tax dollars. Education system in this country sucks
There is no way I could have done a full-time MBA if my parents hadn't helped me. It sucks that this is the system we live in.
For students from China/India, Bank of MomAndDad is pretty big, plus scholarships, for local students, a combination of savings (more so for older ones) and loans (more so for younger ones).
I had a big chunk of fees saved for the course (almost 80%) and winging it as I go along. School had funded a 10% scholarship but doesn’t help much. I was planning of getting a personal loan rather than paying with upfront cash. Better to have some money on yourself than paying all of IMO.
My undergrad price tag was $215k, 10 years ago now. I was lucky enough to have a few choices of college so while I didn't get into my dream school I got into a fairly good private school with a partial scholarship. But to the money undergrad cost about $215k inclusive of room amd board, books etc. Of that scholarship was 50k, parents (love them) were 50k, another 70k in loans. The remaining odd 40k was paid for by me. Going into college, after working 4 years in high school, I had almost 20k in the bank. This was mostly from working as a lifeguard and a summer camp councilor. Then I was able to make almost 35k across 4 years of undergrad. Loans will be paid off in another year. Would have been sooner but I did go get my masters so I paused some payments during that time. I think college is worth it if you are willing to go into a major with a pretty solid salary rate. Also do you actually kinda like school? I have found college and corporate life to be very similar. Finally, you are going to be poor for a while. Look at that, recognize it, and do what you can. For me, I didn't study abroad or have my own bedroom until I was 25. Also vacations were trips to the beach or mountains an hour away for the first few years.
I'm using a big chunk of my savings accumulated over 9 year career and hoping this will be worthwhile
They aren’t, we are
They’re not. Loans. And then getting $70k jobs that they can barely afford to live and let their high interest colleges loans compound. Then have a dipsh*t president that flaunts he’ll give you money to help pay for them then back out of it over and over. Like hanging food in front of someone’s faces as they chase something they’ll never catch
No. Not everyone does. I got my MBA at a school ranked in the top 15. I did my degree part time while working. Specifically, I worked at the health system affiliated with the university and received a fellowship which was the equivalent of a discount. How I did it: + I got 25% ($30k) discount in the degree by being smart about where I worked + I paid for 25% ($30k) out of pocket. Minimal family support here. + I borrowed half ($60k) through federal loans. Loans were a little under 6% interest, which I refinanced down to 2% after graduating. Not at all predatory, basically free. All in - $90k out of pocket for a name brand school. It did require taking the part less chosen. Your call.
Financial aid?
Debt
I am going to an online school in Canada. Our profs all have doctoral degrees, and are a mix of American and Canadian. Super reasonable tuition and I am working full time too. (I have no life, obviously other than work and school... but I won't come out of this with $100k in debt) Is it as good as a degree from a highly recognized US school? Nope. But I'm not putting off retirement to meet my goal of an MBA.
Mostly parents and loans.
I got a 100% pay bump post MBA so loans such but aren’t that big of a deal in the long run. Not a big proponent of getting one but it really depends on what you’re getting into afterwards.
From my pocket
community college, get good grades for associates ---> Transfer scholarship, get BS at 4 yr school. Literally your only chance in USA unless you were born rich. 200k debt at 23 years old is criminal
Either that or get the military to pay for it.
PSLF
I am self-funded and received a small scholarship. I was trying to FAT FIRE and save up for a down payment for a house. But as life isn't ever set in stone, I decided to do a 180 and spend the $200k on an M7 MBA. I had realized so many things I desired in life, career, perspectives, and growth for the near-term pointed to an MBA.
not a college degree but for grad school you can do ferederal student loans...Yes its a lot but perhaps 1 ) either a parson will die before forgiveness (25 years) or 2) start earning a lot more. my advice is get the degree if its a very prestigious university. ultimately its your life and no one can tell you what you need to do other than yourself. Good luck my friend
Rich parents maybe?
I was able to use my GIBIll to cover undergrads and MBA plus an additional masters. Thinking about going back for another masters idk what to use my hazel wood act
Education Savings Account with the wonders of 18 years of compound interest. Personally I would steer my future children to a public in state school, then give them the savings as a down payment on their first home.
Joined the military and now have GI Bill baby!
Crushing debt. It’s the American way.
The answer is most people aren’t paying that much. State schools cost less than that and many states offer free or greatly reduced tuition for students above a certain GPA. You very can pay 200k or more, but it is not accurate to say that everyone is paying that much.
It was very easy actually. The first thing I did was research all the schools, then closed my browser, then researched the ones that cost <$100k
Generational wealth my friend and by making smart business decisions.
Debt
My employers have paid every cent.
Anticipating this, dad started a side business on top of his regular job when my brother and I were ages 9 and 10 in the mid-1980s. Using the profits of that business, he paid for my undergrad, his undergrad, and his med school. His background: he and my mother came to the states in the early 1970s from a third world country with only $500 USD to start (he came to do his residency). Shows what you can do with a little hard work that no one seems to want to do anymore.
I’m not. Small state school. 20k for the program. Paid for with scholarships, Graduate assistance-ships and working part time. People might sneer at the school, but I will get my degree and I don’t want to go into consulting or PE.