financing your MBA
Getting your MBA requires a significant financial investment. Yearly tuition and expenses can range from $20,000 to over $200,000, but don’t let sticker shock hold you back from applying. There are plenty of programs to help with financing your MBA. Scholarships, loans, fellowships, and other programs can bring that cost down and make an MBA degree much more affordable. While the initial costs may be high, so is the return on investment.
"The dividends the MBA has paid are tenfold compared to cost — it opens up unparalleled opportunities and a network you can count on for years to come. An MBA is a catalyst to explore your career potential and pursue dreams you didn’t even know were available."
- Namrata Gandhi, 2009 MBA graduate, University of Chicago (Booth School of Business)
The Costs Involved: Financing your MBA
The first step in the financing process is to figure out how much money you’ll need for business school. You won’t know the real cost of each school until you receive their financial aid package, but your costs are likely to include:
- Tuition and fees
- Books and supplies
- Room and board
- Living expenses
- Miscellaneous expenses (moving costs, club dues, conference fees, social events, travel, etc.)
There are also personal costs and sacrifices. If you plan to attend a full-time, two-year MBA program, you’ll have to factor in two years of lost salary, as well as a possible increase in debt.
How to Pay for Your MBA
An MBA is affordable, and you will benefit from it personally, professionally, and financially. As you consider different business schools, don’t exclude a school because of its cost. With the right mix of resources, it is possible to attend almost any b-school.
Ways to Pay
Ways to Pay
To explore your options, talk with the financial aid advisors at the schools that interest you. Ways to pay for your MBA include:
- Fellowships through the MBA program (i.e., teaching or research assistance), including the Forté Fellowship
- Need- or merit-based scholarships through individual business schools
- Government and/or private loans
- Private grants from foundations or nonprofit organizations
- Employer sponsorship or loan forgiveness programs
Support Gender Equality
When you help launch another woman into a business career, you change the balance of power in the workplace.
