The cheapest MBA programme in the US is less than US$5,000

No master’s degree has ever come close to the prestige and popularity that comes from a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).

Think up to a 100% salary boost, leaps in career progression, easier access to a network of international business leaders and experts, or even a general way to increase your post-graduation options.

What’s better – even really cheap MBA programmes in the US can offer more than a fraction of the benefits you gain from the most expensive MBA programmes in the world. 

But before we get to that, let’s answer one question you might have first: are MBAs still worth it in today?

Harvard University was the first to offer the MBA degree. Now, plenty of others in the US and worldwide have it too. Source: AFP

Is an MBA still worth it in 2025?

From 2012 to 2022, The Economist reports that an average of 82% of MIT students, the world’s #1 university, searching for a job had accepted one at graduation, and 93% had done so three months later.

In 2024, those figures are lower, at 62% and 77%, respectively.

On a wider scale, only 71% of corporate recruiters plan to hire MBAs — down from 92% in 2019, according to a 2024 Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) study.

Now, hiring managers want candidates to have niche expertise, tech skills, and strong soft skills instead of the general management knowledge that once ruled supreme.

So, what is the cause of this effect?

In brief, it’s three things.

The market is flooded with MBA offerings and MBA graduates

Decades ago, only a select few business schools had the capabilities to offer the degree.

Now? Almost every business school across the US and the world offers some semblance of the programme – online, part-time, or alongside a specialised master’s programme, like the Master’s in IT.

Really, anyone and everyone can get an MBA nowadays – which means more competition for everyone all around.

Even the cheap MBA programmes in the US will do their best to prepare you to work with AI. Source: AFP

No industry is spared by AI

In 2017, McKinsey & Company estimated that up to 25% of work activities in finance and insurance could be automated by 2025.

Today, experts say AI is transforming traditional MBA disciplines such as finance, marketing, and supply chain management. 

Of course, MBA programmes worldwide are adapting to the job market’s demands by incorporating AI-related skills and knowledge into their curricula to prepare their graduates better. 

But training these graduates to stay up-to-date and making said curriculum adjustments takes time – something that AI development is often unconstrained by. 

Taking up one of these cheap MBA programmes in the US will at least help you stand out a little more from your competition. Source: AFP

A stuttering global job market 

Whether you’ve been on the job hunt or are keeping an eye and ear on the news, you’ll know that the job market isn’t doing so great. 

In May 2025, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) revised its global employment forecast for the year, projecting the creation of 53 million jobs instead of the previously estimated 60 million. 

“Economic uncertainty has been high in 2025, shaped by ongoing conflicts, geoeconomic realignments, and trade-related disruptions,” writes the ILO in the World Employment and Social Outlook: May 2025 Update report. 

“While output continues to expand at a modest pace and inflationary pressures continue to ease, the combined weight of this uncertain landscape and systemic transitions – such as those related to climate, technology, and demographics – casts a long shadow over both growth trajectories and labour market dynamics,” the report continues. 

In the US, about 20% of job seekers have been looking for work for at least 10 to 12 months or longer, according to Career Group Companies’ 2025 Market Trend Report & Salary Guides, which surveyed 765 candidates across many industries.

While this is due to many factors, from both the job seeker and the hiring managers alike, it ultimately makes you question: how is an MBA still worth it?

In short, it is.

Shaquille O’Neal’s reason for getting an MBA? “It’s just something to have on my resume for when I go back into reality,” he said. “Someday I might have to put down a basketball and have a regular 9-to-5 like everybody else.” Source: AFP

The long-term, big-picture benefits of getting an MBA

Master’s degrees have always been about enhancing your knowledge and upskilling yourself, and no statement could be truer for the MBA.

Study International has spoken to scores of MBA holders, and the general consensus has been that their degrees have positively impacted their careers.

For Filipino Michelle George Tan, who is now based in Malaysia, her MBA programme gave her the opportunity to spend four weeks of immersion in MIT Sloan’s Cambridge, Massachusetts campus, where she got to attend classes by highly sought-after MIT professors, where even MIT students can’t sign up for those classes.

Meanwhile, Tan’s classmate, Kennedy Baboloki Kwati from Botswana, joined the programme with little to no knowledge about finance and data analytics. 

“Now, I’ve become the go-to guy for financial modelling,” said Kwati. “That, to me, indicates just how much I’ve been able to capitalise on the learning opportunities in the MBA.”

For refugees like Afghan national Aziza Akrami, an MBA didn’t just equip her with the business know-how; it taught her how to adapt to a new country and culture, as well as how to gain new perspectives.

“It’s shifted my mindset, and I now have a broader perspective of how things work from different angles and how we can bring something from nothing and build that into a project or business,” said Akrami, who works with a non-profit organisation investing in education programmes for peace.

“There was a lot of doubt about whether I should pursue this degree because it was so difficult in the beginning, but now that I’m at the end of the programme, I see that it’s completely worth it,” said Akrami. “I feel much more prepared for what will come in the future.”

That said, not everyone can cough up US$259,316 for a two-year MBA programme at Columbia Business School.

That does mean, however, that you should be checking out the cheap MBA programmes in the US instead. 

No need to squint and search too far — we’ve got the list of cheap MBA programmes in the US all prepared for you. Source: AFP

5 cheap MBA programmes in the US in 2025

Disclaimer: We’ll be talking about the full-time, in-person cheap MBA programmes in the US instead of those that take place online or part-time.

We have, however, covered the affordable online MBA programmes here.

1. Selma University

We mean it when we said we’re getting you a list of really cheap MBA programmes in the US – Selma University in Alabama has a 36-credit hour programme for just US$4,800.

Twenty-four of your 36 hours will comprise of the programme’s MBA Core Courses, including but not limited to Legal Issues and Ethics, Cybersecurity Management and Strategy, and MBA, Servant Leadership, as the university embraces biblically-based servant leadership as the normative approach to leadership.

The remaining 12 hours of the programme will be made up of the Master of Business Administration courses, such as Decision Analysis Systems, which explore the tools and techniques used for effective decision-making in complex business environments, and International Business, where you’ll dive into topics like international trade theory, cross-cultural management, global marketing strategies, and the impact of political and economic factors on business operations.

 

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2. Southwestern Oklahoma State University

The next on this list of cheap MBA programmes in the US can be found at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma. The 33-credit hour programme here costs US$293.72 per semester hour, totalling your final tuition to US$9,692.76.

Thirty hours of the programme make up the required courses, which include: Financial Accounting For Decision Making, Advanced Business Statistics, and Advanced Human Resources Management, just to name a few.

You can cover the remaining three hours with any master’s-level course offered in the university’s College of Business and Technology with the approval of the Dobson CBT Director of Graduate Programmes.

This could vary across subjects from Computerised Accounting, Geographic Information Systems, Leadership and Gender, and Sports Marketing, for example.

Get your peaches and one of the cheap MBA programmes in the US in Georgia. Source: AFP

3. Reformed University

We might be breaching the US$10,000 line from here on, but another school that made it onto this list of cheap MBA programmes in the US is Georgia’s Reformed University. The 36-credit hour programme costs US$15,480.

Your core courses, which make up 27 credit hours, include Merger and Acquisitions, Global Markets, and Negotiation and Conflict Management. The remainder includes courses like Organisational Behaviour and Leadership in the 21st Century, Business Environment, Law and Ethics, and Interactive and Direct Marketing.

Do note that non-business graduates will be required to take nine credit hours spread across the following courses: Principles of Accounting, Microeconomics, Principles of Financial Management, Principles of Management, and Principles of Marketing.

Quincy University is located a little ways away from Chicago, where you can witness the city’s famous Chicagohenge, when the sun rises and sets in direct alignment with Chicago’s east/west streets making for a picture-perfect moment between the city’s downtown buildings. Source: AFP

4. Quincy University

Quincy University in Illinois is the penultimate on our list of cheap MBA programmes in the US. With 30 credit hours and US$550 per hour, it totals to US$16,500.

The university offers four pathways for its MBAs: General MBA, Organisational Leadership, Operations Management, and Health Care Administration. All these pathways require you to take the following courses:

• Managerial Economics and Business Strategy
• Accounting for Decision Making and Strategy Implementation
• Corporate Investment and Financing Decisions
• Product Strategies, Customer Relationship Management, and Outbound Logistics
  

You’ll also be required to complete the Competitive Advantage and Strategic Choice in a Global Economy capstone project regardless of your specialisation.

5. Anderson University

Considering that the most expensive MBA can go for US$259,316, we think including a school 10 times cheaper is fine.

The last on this list for cheap MBA programmes in the US is Indiana’s Purdue University Fort Wayne, where its 36- to 40-credit hour programme costs US$23,715.90.

Here, they offer five concentrations to help customise your degree: Business Analytics, Engineering Management, Finance, Healthcare Management, and Human Resource Management.

Aside from the niche specialities you’ll build through the different tracks, you’ll start by focusing on your foundations with Business Essentials courses like Essentials Of Accounting and Ethics And Regulatory Environment.

Following that, all MBA students also take up Professional Core Courses, such as Managing Cognition In The Leadership of Complex Adaptive Systems and the Data Driven Operations And Supply Chain Management, to name a few.