The best affordable online MBA programs

Just type “best affordable online MBA programs” into Google and you’ll get a useless list of clickbait programs and bottom-of-the-table business education programs.

These are websites that have deceived Google’s algorithms and thereby give the impression that they are legitimate.

Quite the opposite. Most of the time, these are paid lists of programs looking for students. Every time a potential student clicks on a program, the owner of that website receives a commission. These lists are not created by informed journalists. There is no quality control. There is no analysis behind them.

TWO AFFORDABLE ONLINE MBA PROGRAMS FOR $25,000 STAND OUT

This is the difference between the Poets and Quants list and any other on the web. We know business education. We live and breathe it every day. The articles on our website are written by journalists who report on business education in the way The New York Times covers politics.

So what are the best and cheapest online MBA programs on the market?

If you’re looking for a cheap MBA, you should start your search with the two best-priced programs from reputable and highly regarded universities. Reputation matters, and a business school’s commitment to an online program matters too. That commitment is evident in the tenured faculty who teach the program and the care with which each course in the curriculum is designed and delivered to students.

AFFORDABLE ONLINE MBAS AT HIGHLY REPRESENTED UNIVERSITIES WITH TENURE TRACK TEACHERS

Any search for an affordable online MBA should start (and possibly end) with the iMBA at the University of Illinois Gies College of Business or the online MBA at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. The total cost of the Gies MBA is just $24,984, while the Questrom MBA costs $25,000. Both these universities and their business schools are among the best in the world. Gies’ commitment to online education is unparalleled. The school has discontinued its full-time, part-time, and executive MBAs to focus more on online education. Questrom, meanwhile, took a blank sheet of paper to design a thoroughly modern and innovative MBA program from the ground up.

As former Gies Dean Jeffrey Brown puts it, “We’re selling a Tesla for the price of a Hyundai.” That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but there’s no denying that these programs offer a lot of value for relatively low tuition.

None of these programs are rated by Poets and Quants or US Newsthe only serious rankings of online MBA programs (see the next page for a list of the cheapest programs). But don’t let that put you off. The biggest difference between these very affordable options and their more expensive competitors at comparable schools is the lack of in-person classes. Both programs are 100% online and do not require in-person classes or immersion meetings. While there are live internet classes, there are few opportunities to meet your fellow students in person. Gies offers an annual on-campus gathering of iMBA students, and it’s worth attending. But it’s not mandatory.

The differences between the GIES and Question programs are significant

These are standout programs among the nearly 400 options on the online MBA market (see how they differ below). Gies offers the option to complete the program in small increments by taking individual courses or three-course packages in specializations and then counting those credits toward your degree requirements. There is also an extensive selection of elective courses. Every course in the Questrom program is mandatory and has no electives.

Questrom didn’t simply convert its existing in-person MBA into an online option. The school’s faculty reimagined what a modern MBA should be in today’s environment. Rather than studying business in isolation, with separate courses in accounting, finance, and marketing, BU professors took an integrated approach, weaving business concepts together in a half-dozen semester-long modules. The first of these took an in-depth look at the topic of creating value for business and society. Each module builds on the previous one, and each concludes with an action-oriented learning experience. Everything is core. There are no electives.

That’s the biggest difference from Gies: Questrom has designed an MBA program with core course content, with no electives. “We’re rethinking the MBA from the ground up,” says Questrom Dean Susan Fournier. “We’ve always strived to be more integrated, and technology is allowing us to do that now. We’re getting faculty out of their silos, and that’s the biggest part of the culture change. All seven disciplines have something to contribute here. Contrast that with the broader trends in MBAs, where the mantra is, ‘Let’s get these core courses over with and move on.’ We’re going in the opposite direction. In fact, we’re going to give you 45 credits for what we think you absolutely need to know.”

Despite the low price, Gies has brought its most experienced faculty into the online courses. They hold weekly live Internet classes and office hours, with occasional student-faculty meetings in town, and have added a portfolio of elective courses with five areas of focus, including a course in data analytics. And all at a price where competitors’ programs are usually just stripped-down digital textbooks with no live classes, field trips or electives.

Comparison of the University of Illinois and Boston University online MBA programs