2025 OMBA RANKING: What It Costs To Get An Online MBA

Every year, scores of prospective MBAs devour the employment reports of the top residential programs to see which schools offer the best shot at recouping the increasingly astronomical cost of attending a top-tier school. With soaring tuitions – not to mention leaving the job market for at least two years – prospects are looking for evidence that a prestigious MBA will land them a prestigious job with a prestigious salary.

2024’s employment headlines will have many rethinking their options: Nearly 1/4 Of Job-Seeking Class Of 2024 Harvard MBAs Couldn’t Find Work. Wharton MBA Jobs: Salaries Flat, Offers & Accepts Both Fall. Another Tough 2024 MBA Jobs Report: Offers Plummet & Pay Falls At Michigan Ross.

Is it time for full-time MBA prospects to consider an online MBA?

Depends on what you’re looking for.

MOST EXPENSIVE ONLINE MBA PROGRAMS FOR 2025

As online MBA degrees really started to proliferate in the market, many believed they would democratize graduate business education – making the degree both more accessible and more affordable than their in-person counterparts.

While those assumptions have played out in some disruptively priced programs, the cost of premium programs still can top six figures.

In Poets&Quants’ eighth annual ranking of the best online MBA programs in the U.S., eight of 57 ranked programs charged tuition of $100,000 or more.

Most Expensive Online MBAs From Ranked Programs
2025 RANK	School	In-state	Out-of-state
7	Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)	$149,058 (Accelerated: $111,676)
6	University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business	$132,970
14	University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	$125,589
5	Rice University (Jones)	$118,476
2	University of Michigan (Ross)	$118,000	$128,000
45	Pepperdine University (Graziadio)	$109,980
22	University of California-Davis	$105,480
30	Syracuse University (Whitman)	$105,030
21	Southern Methodist University (Cox)	$98,644
4	University of Washington (Foster)	$96,000
2	Indiana University (Kelley)	$94,944
32	University of Maryland (Smith)	$94,500
12	Santa Clara University (Leavey)	$92,960
50	American University (Kogod)	$90,000

Business schools will argue that the curriculum, electives and even faculty are nearly identical to their full-time, in-person MBAs. Many also require in-person modules and residencies, and some offer trips around the country and abroad to supplement online learning.

Not surprisingly, the most expensive online MBAs tend to be highly ranked or offered by prestigious business schools.

Despite the high price tags, these programs also allow students to continue in their jobs, collecting two years worth of paychecks they would have to forego in a residential program. The opportunity cost, then, becomes one of the major differentiators of a big-brand online program.

THE CAREER VALUE OF A BIG BRAND DEGREE

The highest priced online MBA from our 2025 ranking was the Online Hybrid MBA from Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business, ranked No. 7 overall.

For $149,058, students get a brand-name degree from Carnegie Mellon as well as a consistently strong career trajectory during and after the program. Tepper has topped our OMBA ranking two times in eight years (2018 and 2020). It also came in second in 2023 and fifth in 2024.Tepper also offers an accelerated hybrid OMBA that gives students credit for past business courses at a cost of $111,676, shaving a full semester from the time commitment.

Tuition at University of Southern California Marshall School of Business (ranked No. 6 overall) is now $132,970.

No one can argue that both schools have highly regarded business schools with full-time MBAs ranked in the top 25 in the country in P&Q’s latest composite ranking.

Marshall’s OMBA degree had the fifth highest career impact in our ranking, according to 2024 graduates surveyed by Poets&Quants. More than 61% of alumni reported getting a promotion as a result of their degree while nearly 78% reported getting a raise.

CMU Tepper’s program, meanwhile, had the seventh highest career impact score, with more than half of its 2024 graduates getting promotions and 58% getting raises.

TOP 10 GEMS UNDER $100K

There are also several bargains to be found in the OMBA market, even in the top 10 ranked programs.

The top two schools in the 2025 ranking both have price tags under $100,000. An online MBA at the University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal) – the top ranked program for 2025 – costs just $64,685 for Texas residents. (Out-of-state residents will pay $109,257).

Tuition at No. 2 Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business is $94,944.

The least expensive top ten online MBA offering is from Jack Welch Management Institute (No. 8) at a cost of $47,450. University of Florida (Warrington) (No. 10) comes in at $59,808.

Tuition & Fees At P&Q’s Top 10 OMBA Programs
2025 RANK	School	Instate	Out-of-state
1	University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal)	$64,685	$109,257
2	Indiana University (Kelley)	$94,944
2	University of Michigan (Ross)	$118,000	$128,000
4	University of Washington (Foster)	$96,000
5	Rice University (Jones)	$118,476
6	University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business	$132,970
7	Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)	$149,058 (Accelerated: $111,676)
8	Jack Welch Management Institute	$47,450
9	Hofstra University (Zarb)	$63,367
10	University of Florida (Warrington)	$59,808

ONLINE MBAS UNDER $30K

For the true bargain shoppers, the cost of an online degree (in some cases) is a reflection of the kind of experience a student may want.

In other words: You get an online education with fewer bells and whistles. Rogers State University’s (No. 49 overall) actually dropped the price of its OMBA from $10,880 for last year’s ranking to $9.879 now. It is 100% asynchronous with no live classes, virtual or otherwise. It doesn’t offer a capstone consulting project, international trips, or student clubs or organizations.

Nine schools from the 2025 ranking offer online MBA degrees for less than $30K. That includes the No. 16-ranked Bryant University at $23,805 and the No. 17-ranked University of South Florida (Muma) at $24,750.

Muma had the 18th highest career impact of all 57 ranked schools while Bryant had the 22th highest. Bryant, meanwhile, beat every other school in Admission Standards, weighing metrics like acceptance, graduation, and retention rates.

Least Expensive Online MBAs From Ranked Programs
2025 RANK	School	Instate	Out-of-state
49	Rogers State University	$9,879
36	Bowling Green State University (Schmidthorst)	$17,850	$18,180
43	University of Massachusetts Lowell (Manning)	$19,650
57	University of North Texas (Ryan)	$22,679
16	Bryant University	$23,805
51	SUNY Oswego	$24,301	$28,873
17	University of South Florida (Muma)	$24,750
47	University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Rollins)	$25,032	$26,724
46	Kennesaw State University (Coles)	$25,210
37	University of Wisconsin MBA Consortium	$30,600
35	Texas Tech University (Rawls)	$30,625
34	San Jose State University (Lucas)	$31,838
25	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	$33,600
27	University of Iowa (Tippie)	$34,000
40	Creighton University (Heider)	$34,630
38	University of Cincinnati (Lindner)	$35,000