Tuition Assistance Can Help You Pay for Business School
Are you ready to invest in yourself with an MBA or business master’s degree, but have hesitation about the cost? You’re hardly alone. In fact, about 1 in 4 prospective students like you say cost or the need for student loans may prevent them from pursuing a graduate business program. But did you know that most programs offer a variety of tuition assistance programs to help you pay for business school?
What is tuition assistance?
Defined broadly, tuition assistance includes any kind of initiative undertaken by a graduate business school to help students cover the cost of tuition. Some kinds of tuition assistance have a work requirement (e.g., assistantships and on-campus work study) while others are awarded on the basis of merit or need and have no work requirement, such as scholarships.
A recent Graduate Management Admission Council™ (GMAC™) survey of more than 850 graduate business school programs worldwide shows that the vast majority of global business school programs offer some form of tuition assistance to their incoming students; however, there’s quite a bit of variation in the specifics according to program type and location.
It can be helpful to understand how common certain types of tuition assistance are for the program types and locations you’re targeting, so you can set your expectations and plan how you’ll pay for business school.
Read more: Exploring How to Pay for Business School
For example, merit scholarships—financial awards granted on the basis of past academic or professional distinction—are the most widely distributed form of tuition assistance offered by business school programs. In total, 85 percent of full-time MBA programs report that they offer merit scholarships to applicants as a means of reducing students’ tuition cost burden.
A similar proportion of programs offer merit aid in the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific, but other forms of tuition assistance vary more by world region. For example, assistantships—which typically require recipients to assist faculty with duties related to teaching—are far more common at US business schools than in Europe or Asia-Pacific. On the other hand, need-based scholarships—offered on the basis of demonstrated financial need of the student—are more common in Europe and Asia-Pacific than in the United States.
For more details on tuition assistance nuances by world region, check out our article: These Business School Scholarships Can Reduce the Cost of Your Degree.
Consider tuition assistance in your decision making
Armed with this information, you can begin planning how you’ll pay for school and make sure you’re exploring all your options as you do your research. For each school you’re interested in, determine what forms of tuition assistance are available, what you need to do to qualify, and whether the responsibilities required fit into your larger business school plan.
Keep in mind that tuition assistance programs typically cover only a part of your costs, meaning you’ll still need to account for your remaining tuition balance. Is it worth it? An excellent group of people to answer that question are b-school alumni, who once faced the same choices you do.
Alumni say their business school investment paid off
Among MBA alumni, an overwhelming 93 percent say they would still have pursued their MBA knowing everything that they know now. In addition, 96 percent assess the value of their degree as “good to outstanding.”
While the price of tuition may give you pause today, 5, 10, or 20 years from now you’ll likely have made up the cost of your initial investment with considerable interest. A recent survey found that 9 in 10 alumni report a positive ROI, recouping their investment just a few years following graduation. It’s not uncommon for full-time MBA graduates to double their salaries in their first job after business school, and more than 2 in 3 professional MBA graduates agree that they’ve received more frequent promotions or title changes than peers without a degree.
Step-by-step guidance for the admissions process
The business school admissions process is a unique challenge for any applicant – regardless of how qualified they are. Having a little insider advice from experts can go a long way toward submitting your best possible application and getting the acceptance letter you’ve been dreaming about.
In the mba.com Full-Time MBA Application Guide, we provide you with the information and guidance you need to craft MBA applications that elevate your story and help you stand out from the pool of other qualified applicants.