B-School Search
Major ranking organizations agree that Kansas is a mid-range state in which to do business. Kansas ranks #29 on Chief Executive’s 2019 list of Best and Worst States for Business, #28 on the Forbes 2018 list of Best States for Business, and #29 on U.S. News and World Report’s Best States for Business Environment. Despite the unanimously middle-of-the-pack ranking, Kansas has a pro-business regulatory climate that is one of the best in the nation, as well as an above-average amount of venture capital pouring into the state.
Major industries in Kansas include manufacturing, agriculture, bioscience, aerospace, wind energy, professional services, logistics, renewable fuels, and bioenergy. Two Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Kansas: Spirit Aerosystems Holdings and Seaboard. Other major companies with significant presence in Kansas include Cerner, General Motors, Learjet, Lansing Trade Group, Cessna Aircraft, Sprint, and YRC Worldwide. Currently, Kansas offers incentives like payroll tax withholding, and income tax credits for companies that are improving the state of employment in the state.
For business professionals who are interested in the unique business climate in Kansas, pursuing an online MBA based out of universities in Kansas can present valuable networking opportunities. Online MBAs provide a flexible, schedule-compatible way for busy professionals to transition careers into management, improve competitiveness in the job market, and/or bring greater efficacy to their current positions without the need for relocation, quitting one’s job, or scaling back on hours. Online MBA programs are offered with the same accreditation and taught by the same qualified professors as on-campus programs, with degrees that look exactly the same as degrees earned by on-campus learners.
Please keep reading for more information on accredited online MBA programs, the distinguished professors offering coursework, and opportunities to study in a way that blends online and in-person methodologies.
Featured Online MBA Programs in Kansas
A Catholic university, the University of Saint Mary’s 100 percent online MBA offers students an MBA that emphasizes ethics and corporate responsibility. Students enrolled in the 36-credit program can choose among six concentrations: leadership and organizational health, finance, general management, healthcare management, human resource management, and marketing and advertising management.
Coursework in the program includes organizational management, human resource management, global management, and business policy, and ethics. GMAT scores are not required to apply to the University of Saint Mary.
Location: Leavenworth, Kansas |
Accreditation: International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) |
Expected Time to Completion: As little as one year |
Estimated Tuition: $595 per credit-hour |
The online MBA offered through the School of Business at KU prepares graduates for global leadership in the evolving, contemporary business arena. Students enrolled in the 42-credit program can choose to focus in finance, marketing, or management and leadership.
Coursework in the program includes accounting, business law and ethics, managing people, and international business. GMAT scores are required to apply, although waivers may be available to those with a terminal degree (JD, MD, PhD), at least four years of leadership experience, and/or evidence of sufficient quantitative and analytical reasoning. While work experience is not required to apply, two or more years of work experience are preferred.
Location: Lawrence, Kansas |
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) |
Expected Time to Completion: As few as 27 months |
Estimated Tuition: $865 per credit-hour |
The 100 percent online MBA offered through the ESU school of business promises to deliver students a rigorous curriculum at exceptional value with immediate, practical applications. Students can apply to pursue a general MBA track, or can choose to concentrate in accounting, information systems, or marketing.
Coursework in the program includes managerial economics, behavioral aspects of management, information systems for managerial decisions, and marketing management,GMAT scores are required to apply. GMAT waivers may be available to those with three or more years of management experience, an undergraduate business GPA of 3.5 or higher, and those holding a master’s degree or higher in any field.
Location: Emporia, Kansas |
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) |
Expected Time to Completion: 12 months |
Estimated Tuition: $11,550 for the program |
The theme of the curriculum for the online MBA offered through the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University is “intrapaneurship”—an entrepreneurial attitude toward problem solving within an organization.
Coursework in the 36-credit program includes marketing concepts and research, managing the triple bottom line business, operations and supply chain management, and information technology strategy and application. Students new to Kansas State University are required to attend a two-day regional orientation. The program also includes a faculty-led international trip.
GMAT scores are required to apply, and waivers may be available to those who fulfill all other application requirements. Applicants must have completed six credits of economics courses and six credits of statistics courses.
Location: Manhattan, Kansas |
Accreditation: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) |
Expected Time to Completion: Two to three years |
Estimated Tuition: $2,500 per three-credit course |
Designed to help busy professionals to advance into management with a global mindset and increase one’s marketability, the MBA offered through the Robbins College of Business is 100 percent online. Students enrolled in the program can choose a general MBA or one of 12 concentrations, including, corporate communication, digital marketing, finance, healthcare management, health and human performance/sports management, information assurance, international business, leadership studies, management information systems, marketing, and tourism and hospitality management.
Coursework in the 34-credit program includes information systems management, organizational behavior in a global context, managerial economics, and advanced corporate finance. GMAT scores are required to apply. GMAT waivers may be available to those with a business degree earned with a 3.5 GPA or higher. Students without a business degree must complete 12 additional credit-hours of foundational courses in economics, marketing, accounting, and finance.
Location: Hays, Kansas |
Accreditation: North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS) |
Expected Time to Completion: 18 months (full time), three years or more (part time) |
Estimated Tuition: $400 per credit-hour |
The professional MBA at Friends University prepares graduates for significant professional positions with a solid foundation in business fundamentals and an entrepreneurial mindset through the lens of Quaker values. Students enrolled in the program can choose between seven concentrations, including accounting, healthcare leadership, cybersecurity, finance, human resources, change management, and supply chain management.
Coursework in the 30-credit-hour program includes leadership as a calling, business diversity and cross-cultural communication, marketing: a worldview (domestic and global), and managerial accounting. GMAT scores are not required to apply. Students without a degree in business may need to complete two foundational courses in leadership and finance.
Location: Wichita, Kansas |
Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (HLCNCA) |
Expected Time to Completion: Two years |
Estimated Tuition: $631 per credit-hour |
The 100 percent online MBA at United Methodist Church affiliated Southwestern College is designed to help graduates pursue careers in a wide variety of fields. Students enrolled in the 30-credit program can choose to concentrate in finance, information technology, or marketing.
Coursework in the program includes global operations, organizational dynamics and chance, business law and ethics, and technology and innovation management. GMAT scores are not required to apply. Students without a background in business or without professional experience may have to complete two prerequisite courses in economics and accounting.
Location: Wichita, Kansas |
Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission (HLC) |
Expected Time to Completion: Two years or more |
Estimated Tuition: $730 per credit-hour |
Hybrid MBA Programs in Kansas
Hybrid MBA programs are those that combine the flexibility of online learning with the networking opportunities unique to in-person interaction. For those living close to a university campus in Kansas, or for those who have the flexibility that affords occasional travel, hybrid programs include in-person experiences such as orientations, intensives, immersions, capstones, international projects, or residencies. The following programs in Kansas offer students the opportunity to earn an MBA in a hybrid format.
- Wichita State University – W. Frank Barton School of Business
- Pittsburg State University – Kelce College of Business
- Kansas State University – College of Business Administration