2024 OMBA RANKING: What It Costs To Get An Online MBA

Not so long ago, many believed that online MBAs and other digitally-delivered degrees would democratize graduate business education, making it more accessible and affordable than their in-person counterparts.

While those assumptions have played out in some disruptively priced programs, the cost of premium programs often tops six figures.

In Poets&Quants’ seventh annual ranking of the best OMBAs, eight of 51 ranked programs charged tuition of $100,000. Just five schools charged that much in our two previous rankings.

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.

MOST EXPENSIVE ONLINE MBA PROGRAMS FOR 2024

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

The highest priced online MBA for 2024 was at Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business (ranked No. 5) at $146,916. Tuition at University of Southern California Marshall School of Business (ranked No. 9) is now $125,723. 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.

Both also ranked highly in P&Q’s previous OMBA rankings: Tepper has topped the ranking two times in seven years (2018 and 2020) and came in second in last year’s ranking. Marshall ranked No. 3 last year and first the year before that.

The table below shows schools where it costs more than $100,000 to get an online MBA.

CMU Tepper’s program had the fourth highest career impact score in our ranking, with nearly 53% of its 2023 graduates reporting getting promotions as a result of their degree. Further, 69% reported getting raises. USC Marshall, meanwhile, was seventh in academic experience with alumni rating the program’s in-person and class trips a 9.85 out of 10.

GEMS UNDER $100K

There are notable exceptions: The top two schools in the 2024 ranking both have price tags under $100,000. Tuition at No. 2 University of Washington Foster School of Business was $93,000. Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, ranked No. 1 for the second straight year, was priced at $88,320.

The least expensive top ten online MBA offering is from the Auburn University Harbert College of Business (No. 10) at a cost of $37,325. Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business (No. 11) comes in at $45,972.

ONLINE MBAS UNDER $30K

At the other end of the spectrum, 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. 42 overall) $10,880 online MBA 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. But, it appears that’s exactly what its students want: 2023 alumni rated it a perfect 10 on the likelihood that they would recommend the program to others, the highest of our ranking. They gave the same rating to the responsiveness of its professors, even though their relationships were built solely online.

NEXT PAGE: Tuition costs over the last five years at all the schools in our 2024 ranking.