How to Pursue Your MBA in a Tough Economy
Going back to school to further one's education is a logical choice for many during an economic downturn. For those who already have a college degree, getting an MBA is a popular way to beef up credentials and improve employment prospects. There are two ways to pursue an MBA during a recession: the brick-and-mortar method and the online method. "Brick and mortar" means physically attending classes at a campus. The online method is called "distance learning."
For those out of work, physically attending business school full time may make sense if there's little else to occupy the day. For those with family or work obligations, this choice becomes more difficult. Then there's the cost: Business schools can be very expensive. The most prestigious can charge as much as $100,000 for a two-year MBA degree.
This is why more and more people are choosing to go online to get an advanced business degree. For Denny Basham, pursuing his MBA online made sense. "Say I lost my job: If I had to move...I could still keep working on my MBA," he told Bloomberg Businessweek.
The Sloan Consortium, an organization that integrates online education into the mainstream, issued a report in 2008 which found that more than 20 percent of all U.S. higher education students were taking at least one course online. Over 3.9 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2007, and enrollment for online courses was growing at 12.9 percent a year, compared with 1.2 percent growth for the overall higher education student population.
Distance education is a highly convenient way to learn, offering the student much more flexibility.
