GetEducated Ranks Top 30 Best Online and Distance Learning MBAs - AACSB

Essex Junction, VT (PRWEB) February 27, 2008 -- GetEducated.com, LLC, America's consumer-oriented, online degree clearinghouse, has released the results of their biennial nationwide survey of tuition costs at accredited, distance-learning and online MBA degree programs.

The survey included 168 distance MBA options: 62 of these offered by graduate business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

GetEducated's survey of 62 AACSB options revealed online learners in the United States should be prepared to pay as little as $7,848 or as much as $106,400 for an AACSB accredited distance grad degree in business administration (MBA).

Premiering at the number one ranked "most affordable" spot this year is East Carolina University (North Carolina), a public institution with a modest cost of $7,848 for an online MBA degree for state residents. Out-of-staters will pay significantly more ($26,064) for the same degree. Duke University, a private institution also located in North Carolina, topped the price chart at an estimated price of $106,400 nationwide for tuition and fees their Global MBA option.

The average cost for an AACSB accredited distance MBA: $32,200.

Every school on GetEducated's list of Top 30 Ranked Best Buys in Online MBAs - AACSB Accredited costs $25,000 or less.

GetEducated.com's Top 30 Ranked Best Buys in Online MBAs -

AACSB Accredited is archived online at:

http://www.geteducated.com/rankings/best_mbaaacsb.asp

Trends in Online MBAs: Quality of Online Degrees Escalates

The number of AACSB-accredited B-Schools offering online graduate degrees continues to escalate. GetEducated's 2006 survey profiled 46 AACSB options. The 2008 survey features 62 programs. 31% of the online graduate business school programs surveyed by GetEducated claimed coveted AACSB accreditation. This ratio mirrors the national average for brick and mortar B-Schools: about 30% of traditional B-Schools are AACSB-accredited.

"In 1989 when we began our distance learning surveys, no AACSB-accredited B-School offered a distance MBA. If you'd have asked them if they intended to offer such a distance degree to the public in the near future the answer would have been a resounding no," comments Vicky Phillips, Chief Education Analyst at GetEducated. "Today, consumers are being offered unparalleled access to degrees from what most consider the elite of the business school world."

AACSB accreditation is widely considered the gold standard of business school accreditation. The fact that escalating numbers of these schools are delivering through distance learning helps confirm elearning as a respectable choice for learners across America.

Elite B-Schools on GetEducated's list of distance MBAs include Babson College's F. W. Olin Graduate School of Business, Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, and Thunderbird Graduate School's

Garvin School of International Management.

Trends in Online MBAs: Public Universities Provide Exceptional Buys

Brand name, brick and mortar, public universities dominate GetEducated.com's list of highly ranked values in online learning. "Ten years ago most distance degrees came from universities few people had heard of. Today, the best online degrees are being granted by universities that have been helping people get educated for a hundred years or more," comments Phillips.

GetEducated's list of top ranked values in distance MBAs includes names that have earned the trust of consumers and employers alike. Most are publicly-supported universities that port their degrees nationwide using online delivery.

Many publicly-supported institutions offer the same low tuition they offer state residents to learners everywhere. A distance MBA from the University of Wisconsin, for example, costs between $18,000-$19,800 for all learners regardless of their state of residency.

"$18,000-$19,000 may sound like a lot of money," says Phillips, "but in truth an AACSB-accredited MBA that costs $18,000 costs $14,000 less than the national average. Consumers need to know that a quality MBA need not cost an arm and a leg."

"Shopping around for a MBA can result in tens of thousands of dollars of savings," advises Phillips. "GetEducated publishes Best Buy rankings in an effort to help consumers get educated about some of the great deals available to them if they choose the distance learning route."

GetEducated's top ranked values in distance AACSB-MBA schools include, among others, the University of Houston Victoria, Mississippi State University, State University of New York (SUNY), University of Texas, University of Georgia System, Florida State University, University of Wisconsin, Colorado State University, and the University of Massachusetts.

Free Guidebook to Distance MBAs

Consumers can explore all their online B-School options by downloading a free copy of the clearinghouse's 2008 guidebook to accredited online universities, GetEducated.com's Best Distance Learning Graduate Schools, Business, Management and Online MBAs, available at http://www.geteducated.com/guidebooks/bdlgs_bm.asp

About: Founded in 1989, GetEducated.com, LLC is the safest place in cyberspace to shop for an online degree ?. In a nationwide effort to help consumers get educated about quality online learning the clearinghouse publishes FREE independent ratings and rankings of online universities. The clearinghouse operates the Diploma Mill Police, (SM), a FREE online degree accreditation verification service designed to help protect online learners from educational fraud, and publishes a series of 100% FREE ebooks to online colleges.

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