Saving Money on an Online MBA

Interested in pursuing the MBA online, but surprised at the cost? The least expensive MBA programs are at your local, state university.
You are a state resident, so the cost can be a few hundred dollars per course and up.
Maybe you don't want to attend your local, state school.

The state MBA program may be too traditional and not accelerated enough for your needs. Or, the program doesn't have the concentration area you want or the time of class doesn't fit with your work schedule.
You may want to investigate a part-time, online MBA.
These online MBA's are more expensive than your local, state university.

Even your local university will charge extra fees for their online learning.
If you like the looks of the MBA curriculum from a private university, get ready to pay between $1000 - $2000/class. So, cutting costs may mean you attend a less-expensive MBA program, even if the time of classes, format or curriculum aren't perfect for you.
Or, you can cut costs by taking your prerequisites in a less expensive way and make the total cost of the degree fit better with your budget.

You may need prerequisites or foundation classes before you start your MBA.
If your undergraduate degree was in an area other than business or you graduated many years ago, you may need to take courses in Accounting, Economics, Statistics and Business Law.

Some less expensive ways to gain these prerequisites are: o Community College Don't overlook the community college for lower-division prerequisites. You can take accounting, economics, business law and statistics for a fraction of the cost of the online classes.

o Extension Programs from Local Universities Pre-MBA classes may be found at your local university's Extension, Extended Education or Continuing Education division. o Testing Out of Classes If you have knowledge in these prerequisite subjects (accounting, for example), you may be able to test out of these classes at the MBA department of your university or test out with College Level Examination Program (CLEP).

Check out the testing options CLEP has to offer at: www.

collegeboard.com/clep Not all MBA departments accept all these prerequisite options, but if they do, you can save thousands of dollars off the online MBA program.