Financing Your Online MBA Course

How to Finance Your Online MBA Course?

One of the major factor in deciding if you want to take up an Online MBA Course, is likely to be the financial aspect. How do you intent to finance your MBA? To earn MBA online, or for that matter, any other certified MBA program requires a huge financial commitment. No matter how much benefits of an MBA that you may eventually realise, you should still plan carefully for it.

Cost of Online MBA Course

In UK or USA, the cost of an online MBA course of a good business school is more than the average wages. Having said that, you may still be able to get a cheap MBA at the cost of US Dollar 8,000 but do not expect too much from it. The average cost of an MBA is around $40,000 with some costing as much as $60,000. This is all the more true if you are getting your Online MBA Course from a renowned university or one of those top MBA course.

Hence, if you wish to spend your time actually studying for your Online MBA Course and not worrying about how to finance the MBA, you need a good planning and budgeting. This budgeting should not be done only after you’ve registered for the course, it should be planned well ahead before you actually register for the Online MBA Course.

Start your MBA financing planning by looking at the cost involved. Tuition cost makes up a massive part of the Online MBA Course. Note that some online MBA course also requires its students to spend some time as a resident student on its campus. You will need to budget for the residential duration as well. If your Online MBA Course requires that you spend time as a resident student, be sure to check out if the fees is different for foreign students. Some university have different cost for local and foreign students.

There are also other academic costs involved. Some Online MBA Course offers only online instruction from the lecturer in the forms of digital video feed, but students are expected to buy their own textbooks. However, most Online MBA Course provider would provide students with texts and material which may be printed and bound as a reference book. Other cost may include purchasing some additional software which is needed for some quantitative subjects.

There are many ways to finance your Online MBA Course, and you have to be resourceful. To start, if you are a working mom or working personnel, you may want to check with your employers if the company subsidise your studies. There are many instances where students who are working has their employer pay for their Online MBA Course. This is all the more relevant, if you are able to apply your MBA knowledge immediately to your work. On the contrary, full-time MBA students have more difficult chance of getting their employer to finance their certified MBA program.

Get Your Employer to Finance Your Online MBA Cost

According to The Economist, more than 60% of students who do their certified MBA part-time, including those doing an Online MBA Course, are financed by their employer. Most employers agree to subsidies the MBA studies with prior agreement that he or she will stay with the company for a certain period of time upon completing the MBA program.

However, there are other considerations you will need to take into account if you are seeking your employer to finance your Online MBA Course. The first important consideration is to check if the MBA that you are taking is certified by your company. Some companies only agree to finance their employee for some limited types of MBA programs.

They may be some conflicts of opinion between your employer and you as to which certified MBA program is suitable. What is suitable for you may not necessary be good for the company. The cost of the certified MBA is another issue. It is likely that the company would prefer that you sign up with the cheapest MBA course, and not necessary the best. Since you will be the one who has to study and put in the most effort for the entire MBA duration, it is likely that you will prefer the best MBA, not the cheapest.

The other considerations about getting your company to finance your Online MBA Course is in the event of an economic downturn, it is very likely that the company will cut down on its training budget. The company may decide to terminate the financing when you are mid-way through your Online MBA course. As there are so many ways to finance your Online MBA Course, you are advised to carefully research into the available options and weight each of the option carefully. The time spent in carrying out the research definitely pays in the long-term.

Other Financial Aid for Your Online MBA Course

Besides getting your employer to finance your Online MBA Course, there are generally three kinds of financial aid that you can consider:

Grants/Scholarship – usually given to students according to merit, academic achievements, country of origin and other deciding criteria.

Loans – either from the school or from commercial financial institution

Fellowships – may not be applicable to Online MBA Course, as it involves students earning their money by teaching or assisting with research.

Before you consider taking up a loan to finance your Online MBA Course, you should consider applying for a scholarship, company sponsorships or using your own savings. Let us look at the available options, one by one.

MBA Scholarship

An MBA scholarship is usually awarded to those who are worthy of them. Most of these scholarship are awarded based on the following criterias:

To individuals displaying outstanding academic performance and potential.
To attract students with strong academic performance so as to advance in rankings and to maintain their reputation.
For students with limited financial resources but with great potential.
Scholarships designed for specific groups.

If you would like to get a scholarship to finance your Online MBA Course, then you should search for your scholarship as early as possible. Otherwise, you may end up missing your intake date. In fact, there are students who start searching for their scholarship even before they are ready to take the program. It’s all about planning in advance.

You should also apply to as many MBA scholarship as possible. In fact, you should apply to every award possible, not matter how small the award amount may be. When all these award amounts add up, they may be quite a useful amount to help you bridge your financial gap. Also, always remember that it is usually the less lucrative scholarship that are less competitive, and your chances of success of getting the MBA scholarship is higher.

Do not apply to just a few MBA scholarship simply because you think that you are a talented students and is likely to get them. It may very competitive than you think. However, do not waste your time applying to those MBA scholarship that you do not even meet the basic criteria.

Look for less competitive MBA scholarships. Seek for small local awards that are not normally listed in the national database. Try writing to big corporation which do not always publish their scholarship. Who knows, you may be lucky and may even be offered a better employment upon your MBA graduation.
When you are looking for a scholarship to finance your Online MBA Course, always check for the latest and up-to-date information. A directory of scholarship which is more than 1 year old is considered too old to be used. It is likely that the scholarship has already been taken by some deserving students.

Many schools offer academic scholarship, and you should check them out. The London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) is one such example. The more aggressive the school is about offering the scholarship for deserving students, the more likely that they are really serious about getting more students into their Online MBA Course. The more known is an institution, the more competitive it will be for you to get the scholarship to finance your Online MBA Course.

If a scholarship that you are considering to finance your Online MBA Course requires that you b nominated, find out who is responsible for the nomination and ask them to nominate you. As the nomination dateline is approaching, the nominator may just nominate you as you happens to be the only one who is asking. Even if they have a proper procedure to follow, by asking to be introduced to them shows your eagerness on getting the scholarship, and will do you good.

One final word about getting a scholarship to finance your Online MBA Course. If you do win a scholarship award, remember to renew them. Some scholarship requires that you maintain certain academic results such as a good GPA score to have your MBA scholarship renewed, and you should be aware of them.

Loan for Your Online MBA Course

If you decided to apply for a loan to finance your Online MBA Course, there are some factors that you need to consider, such as – How much is the total cost of borrowing over the loan term? Are there any additional financial charges? How does the repayment schedule fits your financial requirement? How dependable is the financial institution offering the loan?

There are a good number of reputable loan provider for an Online MBA Course. However, be careful not to be tempted to take up more than what you actually require. Otherwise, you may end up servicing the loan long after you have already graduated from your MBA program. There are also many different types of loan available, and your should check them out carefully.

Some of these loans offer interest-free during the duration of your studies, and may not be a bad idea to consider. Also, check if the loan allows you to pay off the principal at any time that you want. Some institutions may offer you with a low interest loan, but comes with the condition that you may not make any principal repayment within the first few years of the loan. In a nutshell, go for loans with the most flexible repayment and the lowest interest rate.

Most of those who pursue their Online MBA Cost already saved up some amount of money to finance their certified MBA program. They may only take up a loan to bridge the gap. If you do not have any savings now, consider working for few more years to save up some money and take a smaller loan quantum to bridge the gap. In whatever cases, always remember that doing an Online MBA Course requires a heavy financial and time commitment and you should plan for both carefully.

One last and important point about financing your Online MBA Course. Do not forget that some countries offer tax incentive for post-graduate studies. Remember, to apply for it.