Attending a full-time MBA program can be a major investment of both time and money. In fact, tuition alone at some elite business schools can cost up to $175,000—and that doesn’t factor in other costs such as housing and fees. Earning an MBA from a top-ranked institution, however, has its payoffs including pay packages exceeding $200,000 in certain fields.
4 of the most affordable full-time MBA programs where grads make more than the $115K average
BY Sydney LakeJuly 17, 2023, 1:48 PM
A group of Indiana University students who just finished graduating from the Kelley School of business during a video ceremony celebrate afterwards by jumping into waters of the Showalter Fountain and posing for photographs, as seen in May 2020. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images)
While there is undoubtedly a clout factor in attending the likes of Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, or The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, there are several other schools top-ranked by Fortune that help graduates earn six-figure salaries.
MBA graduates on average earn $115,000 base salaries, according to the Graduate Management Admissions Council. And “employers do not necessarily know which programs the hired graduates are from,” a GMAC spokesperson previously told Fortune.
In terms of affordability, earning an MBA in a full-time, in-person format can cost anywhere from roughly $25,000 to $175,000. Fortune has compiled a list of four full-time MBA programs that are both relatively affordable and help graduates earn more than the average base salary of $115,000, according to statistics reported to the publication.
Fortune also calculated the return-on-investment (ROI) for these programs, which range from 32.2% to 107%. Average ROI for higher education ranges from about 13.5% to 35.9% across different demographic groups, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Note that not all schools report salary figures, so this list is not exhaustive. The following are tuition-only figures and not the full sticker price of attending the program.
1. Indiana University (Kelley)
- Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 18
- Tuition: $57,984
- Median base salary upon graduation: $120,000
- Return-on-investment: 107%
- Acceptance rate: 32%
- Average GMAT score: 679
2. Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)
- Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 26
- Tuition: $66,420
- Median base salary upon graduation: $125,000
- Return-on-investment: 88.2%
- Acceptance rate: 27%
- Average GMAT score: 682
3. University of Washington (Foster)
- Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 20
- Tuition: $80,016
- Median base salary upon graduation: $130,000
- Return-on-investment: 62.5%
- Acceptance rate: 35%
- Average GMAT score: 704
4. University of Minnesota—Twin Cities (Carlson)
- Fortune full-time MBA ranking: No. 28
- Tuition: $87,360
- Median base salary upon graduation: $115,500
- Return-on-investment: 32.2%
- Acceptance rate: 37.28%
- Average GMAT score: 670
Check out all of Fortune’s rankings of degree programs, and learn more about specific career paths.
