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The best MBA programs for less than $15,000 a year
The master’s degree in business administration (MBA) is one of the traditional education choices for people seeking high-powered careers with a lot of earning potential.
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But MBAs aren’t cheap. A year of tuition at a top business school can easily exceed $50,000, and many programs last for two years.
Given that students are highly likely to have education debt from their undergraduate degrees, graduates’ student loan debt can easily reach six figures.
That can create a lot of pressure to find a lucrative job, because that pricey MBA probably won’t seem as valuable if you can’t afford your student loans, fall behind on payments and damage your credit.
(Keep in mind, there are income-driven repayment plans that federal student loan borrowers could use to help make loan payments more manageable. You can see how your student loans may be affecting your credit score by viewing your free credit report summary, updated each month, on Credit.com.)
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Still, not every MBA requires you take on an obscene amount of debt. In-state tuition is probably the most common way to get a great degree for the least amount of money, though some private and out-of-state schools are still much cheaper than, say, Columbia University, which costs $65,988 per year.
Using U.S. News & World Report’s MBA rankings, we rounded up the top MBA programs you can attend for less than $15,000 in tuition each year (full-time).
University of Wisconsin—Madison
U.S. News Rank: 27 (four-way tie)
Tuition: $14,476 per year in-state, $29,293 per year out-of-state
Brigham Young University
U.S. News Rank: 31 (three-way tie)
Tuition: $11,970 per year for Latter-day Saints’ members, $23,940 per year for non-members
Texas A&M University—College Station
U.S. News Rank: 31 (three-way tie)
Tuition: $11,100 per year in-state, $24,416 per year out-of-state
University of Florida
U.S. News Rank: 37 (tie)
Tuition: $12,737 per year in-state, $30,130 per year out-of-state
University of Alabama
U.S. News Rank: 53 (tie)
Tuition: $10,170 per year in-state, $25,950 per year out-of-state
University of Georgia
U.S. News Rank: 55 (tie)
Tuition: $13,192 per year in-state, $31,510 per year out-of-state
University of Oklahoma
U.S. News Rank: 63 (five-way tie)
Tuition: $5,992 per year in-state, $22,937 per year out-of-state
University of Connecticut
U.S. News Rank: 68 (three-way tie)
Tuition: $13,026 per year in-state, $33,812 per year out-of-state
Iowa State
U.S. News Rank: 71 (four-way tie)
Tuition: $9,870 per year in-state, $22,808 per year out-of-state
University of Massachusetts—Amherst
U.S. News Rank: 75 (tie)
Tuition: $2,640 per year in-state, $9,938 per year out-of-state
University at Buffalo—SUNY
U.S. News Rank: 81 (tie)
Tuition: $14,410 per year in-state, $24,390 per year out-of-state
CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College
U.S. News Rank: 85 (three-way tie)
Tuition: $14,900 per year in-state, $30,600 per year out-of-state
Binghamton University—SUNY
U.S. News Rank: 88 (three-way tie)
Tuition: $14,410 per year in-state, $24,390 per year out-of-state
University of Kansas
U.S. News Rank: 88 (three-way tie)
Tuition: $376 per credit in-state, $880 per credit out-of-state
(The program is 50 credit hours over three semesters and a summer session.)
University of Kentucky (Gatton)
U.S. News Rank: 92 (three-way tie)
Tuition: $12,428 per year in-state, $26,964 per year out-of-state
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