Guide to MBA & Business Program Scholarships (2024)

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It’s easy to understand why so many MBA students care so much about scholarships. First, despite some exceptions, top-quality graduate business education in the United States has become an extraordinarily expensive proposition. And second, the increasing role that debt plays in financing higher education—including MBA programs—poses implications that concern many.

According to Poets & Quants, (2023), an MBA at one of the top 27 business schools in the United States now exceeds $200,000 at 19 schools, with four more B-schools knocking on the door. That’s up from 15 schools in 2022, 14 schools in 2021, 13 in 2020, 12 in 2019, and nine in 2018. At 21 of those 27 B-schools, the annual price tag—including tuition, estimated living expenses, insurance, and fees—exceeds $100K.

Today, these skyrocketing cost estimates have become common at the best private schools and even some public universities, but they still don’t completely account for all the costs many fail to recognize. Those involve opportunity costs—i.e., the economists’ concept of the costs of foregoing one thing in favor of something else.

In that respect, $400,000 might seem more like the real cost of an elite MBA degree. Why? That’s because the opportunity cost of sacrificing a well-paying job for two years drives total costs well above tuition, fees, and living expenses at Harvard and similar universities; in general, students at those schools leave jobs already paying more than $85,000 a year.

Nevertheless, financing higher education with loans involves challenges. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, student loan borrowers in the United States owe a collective over $1.745 trillion in federal and private student loan debt as of November 2023.

Given that higher education has now become the second-largest expense for an individual in their lifetime, only topped by buying a home, it’s no wonder why so many students now look to scholarships and fellowships for help. Fortunately, research compiled for our profiles below revealed many scholarships that can help defray the cost of earning an MBA.

Featured MBA Programs
Rice University MBA@Rice Online MBA View Full Profile
Texas A&M International University Online MBA - Management View Full Profile
University of California, Davis Online MBA (MBA@UCDavis) View Full Profile
University of Miami Online Master of Business Administration View Full Profile
Southern New Hampshire University MBA Online View Full Profile
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Online MBA View Full Profile
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN Southern New Hampshire University Online MS - Construction Management

Business School Scholarships: Common Application Requirements

Derived from the entries below, here are the common application requirements for MBA scholarships:

  • A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution
  • Competitive GPA from undergraduate program(s), at least a 3.0
  • Either an in-person or video interview
  • A personal statement of objectives
  • Letters of recommendation
  • GMAT or GRE score reports (maybe optional)
  • Proof of citizenship or permanent residency in the United States

Most (although not all) donors require prior admission at a specific partner business school; this is why locating qualifying MBA scholarships is a challenging process. Our guide below includes examples of such donors: the Arizona State University W.P. Carey Forward Focus MBA Scholarship; the University of Florida Warrington College of Business; the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Scholarships; and the University of Houston. Please note that we’ve tried our best to focus on scholarships that don’t restrict their recipients’ business school selections.

In other cases, donors require prior admission to at least one of a network of partner business schools. This requirement seems to be especially common among certain prestigious, lucrative scholarships offered to underrepresented groups such as women and people of color. In our profiles below, foundations with business school network admission requirements include The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, the Committee of 200 Scholars Program, the Forté Fellows Program, the Reaching Out LGBTQ MBA Fellowship, and the National Black MBA Association Graduate Scholarship Program.

Finally, several donors require evidence of future career plans that align with their foundation’s mission. For example, this evidence might include transcripts indicating preparatory coursework consistent with licensure requirements, such as the CPA examination. Our guide below includes examples from industries that include public accounting, public finance, and commercial real estate.

Full-Ride MBA Scholarships for Specific Schools

Other MBA Scholarships for Specific Schools

MBA Scholarships for Specific Career Paths

MBA Scholarships for Academic Honor Society Members

MBA Scholarships for Women

MBA Scholarships for Other Underrepresented Groups

MBA Scholarships from Innovative Foundation and Corporate Benefactors

Additional Resources for MBA Scholarships

Below are key resources used in preparing this guide that contains references to additional scholarships.

Douglas Mark
Douglas Mark
Writer

While a partner in a San Francisco marketing and design firm, for over 20 years Douglas Mark wrote online and print content for the world’s biggest brands, including United Airlines, Union Bank, Ziff Davis, Sebastiani, and AT&T. Since his first magazine article appeared in MacUser in 1995, he’s also written on finance and graduate business education in addition to mobile online devices, apps, and technology. Doug graduated in the top 1 percent of his class with a business administration degree from the University of Illinois and studied computer science at Stanford University.

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