Is The MBA Poised For A Rebound? New Research Finds Upward Trends In MBA Enrollment, Jobs & More by: Kristy Bleizeffer on January 15, 2025 | 5,547 Views January 15, 2025 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit After a decade of decline, the MBA degree is trending up in all the right places, according to new research. After a decade of decline, the MBA degree seems poised for a rebound, according to new research released today (January 15) from Validated Insights, a marketing agency specializing in higher education. MBA graduates, enrollments, and applications started trending up as of 2024, while the MBA job market is improving even as the labor market as a whole tightens, the firm found. That growth is projected to continue through 2030 at a 3.2% CAGR (compound annual growth rate). “The thing that kept coming top-of-mind, and it bears out in the documentation, is that we’ve seemingly hit a bottom (on the decline of the MBA). We should at least expect some sort of growth trajectory to follow in the near future,” says Brady Colby, report author and head of market research at Validated Insights. “Another interesting thing from this research is, in this hyper competitive market, average program size is going down. Schools really have to be thoughtful if they’re really trying to scale an online MBA.” ENROLLMENT AND COMPLETIONS TREND UP Validated Insights releases detailed whitepapers and research reports on education markets each quarter. This is its first on the MBA degree specifically. It utilizes data from various public and private sources including Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, BestColleges, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Council of Graduate Schools, Graduate Management Admissions Council, Poets&Quants, U.S. News & World Report, and other sources. At more than a century old, it’s easy to think of the MBA as the old man at the swimming pool, surrounded by a host of shiny, sexy master’s degrees in everything from AI to business analytics. While it is still one of the largest graduate degree programs in U.S. higher education, MBA enrollments and completions have trended downward for at least a decade. However, Validated Insights’ research found this decline appears to be ending. Among U.S. programs, MBA completions have grown 0.9% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) since 2020 and enrollments grew 1.6% year-over-year in 2024. Those figures include all MBA programs, whether they be online, hybrid, or residential. Applications are up as well, according to data from AACSB, GMAC, and school class profile reports. Schools that utilize the GMAT admission test saw an 8.1% increase in applications in 2024 after two straight years of decline, the report found. The application rise was especially noticeable at the M7s, where applications for the 2023-2024 cycle rose 18% at The Wharton School and Stanford Graduate School of Business, 21% at Harvard Business School, and 16% at MIT Sloan School of Management. It’s an encouraging turnaround from 2017 to 2020 when MBA completions dropped 0.5% CAGR, according to the research. Between 2018 and 2024, MBA enrollments experienced a decline at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -2.3%. However, Validated Insights estimates that in 2024, MBA enrollments saw an increase of 1.6% from the previous year. Source: Validated Insights MBA report The upward enrollment trend is expected to continue through 2030 at a surprisingly healthy pace with a predicted compound annual growth rate of 3.2% CAGR. By 2030, the study found that total MBA enrollment will hit 282,000. While that number falls short of the more than 300,000 MBA enrollments in 2008, it is notably higher than the 233,000 enrollments last year. “The growth we’re seeing in MBA programs, in applications, enrollments, and completions is big news for colleges and universities, many of which have invested heavily in expanding or upgrading MBA and other graduate programs,” said Yelena Shapiro, Founder and CEO at Validated Insights. “Our projection of three percent growth over the next five years is significant, and it tells us that these very important students are on their way back to school, and perhaps in big numbers.” ONLINE VS. ON-CAMPUS The research also finds that more students are opting for online MBAs than the traditional on-campus programs, a reversal of fortune that started during the pandemic. In 2018, traditional and hybrid programs which required in-person attendance were still significantly more popular. Then, about 150,000 students enrolled in on-campus programs compared to about 120,000 online students. In 2019, online programs were trending up, while on-campus programs were trending down, but those trends accelerated sharply through 2020, just as the pandemic was shutting down classrooms around the world. In 2020, enrollments for online programs reached nearly 200,000 while on-campus programs dipped well below 100,000. Source: Validated Insights MBA report Preference for fully online MBA programs doubled from 22% to 44% from 2018 to 2023, while hybrid MBA preference was cut in half, from 36% to 18%. Preference for fully on-campus programs fell from 42% to 38% in the same time period. As of Fall 2023, it is estimated that 58% of all MBA enrollments are in online programs, the research finds. MORE STUDENTS BUT MORE COMPETITION All the discussion of a growing preference for online programs comes with a big caveat: Even as more students look at online options, the proliferation of new online programs makes competition for those students more pronounced. Between 2018 and 2023, the number of online MBA programs grew from 555 to 732, the report finds. Increasing enrollments have not kept up, meaning average enrollment per online program has actually decreased. Average enrollment per program fell from 215 in 2018 to 182 in 2023, a 3.3% CAGR decline. “Competition is really outpacing enrollment numbers, even though it appears that the MBA did hit a bottom and that we’re poised for growth. Differentiation will be really key for (online MBA programs), and there’s a lot of downward price pressure right now. We see a lot of lower and lower cost programs, even those from premier brands, that are offering really cost effective programs,” Colby tells Poets&Quants. From 2008 to 2020, the average annual tuition and fees for MBA programs increased at a 5.3% CAGR, outpacing the growth in costs for other graduate programs. This rise in costs has led to more price-sensitive applicants. Across the U.S., online MBAs cost between $5,000 to $160,000, with an average cost of $31,500, according to the report. (See what a top online MBA program will cost you in this story: 2025 OMBA RANKING: What It Costs To Get An Online MBA.) Schools seem to be responding to this message. In 2024, 61% of business school deans said competitively priced MBAs from strong brands would dominate the market, up from 49% in 2021. JOB MARKET AND HIRING TRENDS The headlines from 2024’s MBA employment reports have been been nothing short of bleak: 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 However, the research from Validated Insights suggests MBA job postings have been on the rise since mid-2023. MBA salaries, meanwhile, are seeing modest growth. Over the past 18 months, the labor market has tightened, leading to a modest improvement in job postings for MBAs, although they remain well below the levels of early 2022. While total job openings have steadily decreased since early 2022, MBA job postings seem to have reached their lowest point and are now experiencing modest growth. Between October 2023 and October 2024, total job openings fell by 10.8%, whereas MBA job postings increased by 35.6%. Source: Validated Insights MBA report “Obviously, a lot of the labor market shifts are going to impact demand for MBA programs. Not yet sure how that’s going to play out, but it’s pretty clear at this point that the labor market is drastically changing in terms of composition of the labor force,” Colby says. “That’s going to trigger the need for a significant amount of upskilling and reskilling for folks. So as the labor market goes through this transition – whether it’s from artificial intelligence or whatever – there’s going to be a real reallocation of roles, from where people are working now to where they’re working in the future. And people have historically looked to MBA programs to help them bridge that gap from one one role to the next.” This research shows that the MBA can be a competitive advantage in a tight jobs market. From 2019 to 2024, the share of companies that either maintained or increased their hiring of recent college graduates fell from 96% to 79%. During the same period, the percentage of companies hiring or planning to hire recent MBA graduates increased from 76% to 92%. See the full report here. DON’T MISS: THE BEST ONLINE MBA PROGRAMS IN THE U.S. FOR 2025 and GRADUATION & RETENTION RATES AT THE TOP ONLINE MBA PROGRAMS