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Although business school can be a costly investment, some MBA programs offer bargain prices.
The 10 least expensive private MBA programs all charged full-time students less than $45,000 for tuition and fees during the 2016-2017 school year, according to data that 44 ranked private business schools provided to U.S. News in an annual survey.
Thirteen private business schools gave U.S. News information about their per-credit tuition and fees but did not specify the annual cost for a full-time student. Those schools have been excluded from this analysis.
[Find out the hidden costs of an MBA education.]
The average tuition and fees among the 10 least expensive private business schools was $36,666. That’s nearly $20,000 less than the overall average tuition and fees among all private business schools that reported these data: $56,379.
The business school that charged the least in the 2016-2017 school year was La Salle University, where full-time tuition and fees were only $23,590. The Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University had the second-lowest tuition and fees: $24,620.
[Assess your chances of getting financial aid for business school.]
Because Brigham Young is a religious university that is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its Mormon MBA students receive a 50 percent discount on tuition and fees, which means they paid only $12,310.
By contrast, the most expensive private business school — Babson College’s Olin Graduate School of Business — charged its full-time students $105,118 in tuition and fees.
Below is a list of the 10 private business schools with the lowest tuition and fees during the 2016-2017 school year. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School (name) (state) | Full-time 2016-2017 tuition and fees | U.S. News business school rank |
| La Salle University (PA) | $23,590 | RNP* |
| Brigham Young University (Marriott) (UT) | $24,620 | 34 (tie) |
| Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ) | $34,514 | 83 (tie) |
| Howard University (DC) | $35,485 | RNP |
| Case Western Reserve University (Weatherhead) (OH) | $38,450 | 77 (tie) |
| Willamette University (Atkinson) (OR) | $39,280 | RNP |
| Suffolk University (Sawyer) (MA) | $41,542 | RNP |
| Rochester Institute of Technology (Saunders) (NY) | $42,078 | 91 (tie) |
| Baylor University (Hankamer) (TX) | $42,606 | 65 (tie) |
| Syracuse University (Whitman) (NY) | $44,492 | 88 (tie) |
* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find tuition and fees data, complete rankings and much more.
U.S. News surveyed 471 schools for our 2016 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The tuition and fees data above are correct as of June 20, 2017.
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10 Least Costly Private Business Schools originally appeared on usnews.com
