Looking for Least Expensive Accelerated MBA

[Scott]

Hi!
I'm looking for the most regarded accelerated and, least expensive means of obtaining an online MBA.
I've looked at Aspen University (oops - only Nationally accredited, by Col. too) $4200.00 + books and lecture notes.
North Central out of Arizona ( regionally accredited, but $13,000+ - No GMAT!)
Plymouth State of NH (regionally accredited - of course, $11,000, No GMAT/GRE, not too sure if it can be done within one year and all online too).

I checked out LSU - FORGET it! Vastly overpriced - $27,000+, GMAT and hey, it's LSU...The land of Mayor Nagin and Huey Long ;>)
(BTW: Don't e-v-e-r let anyone tell you that the Federal Government did nothing during Katrina. The US Coast Guard rescued over 33,522 people of which 7,700+ were flow out by Aircrews - PROUD COAST GUARD FATHER!)
Semper Paratus!

Seriously, is there a regionally accredited little school lurking out there which is the bargain of year and lets you take on their master's program (online) at a very aggressive pace? ;)

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Scott
Charter Oak State College BSBA

[DRJ]

Hi!
I'm looking for the most regarded accelerated and, least expensive means of obtaining an online MBA.
I've looked at Aspen University (oops - only Nationally accredited, by Col. too) $4200.00 + books and lecture notes.
North Central out of Arizona ( regionally accredited, but $13,000+ - No GMAT!)
Plymouth State of NH (regionally accredited - of course, $11,000, No GMAT/GRE, not too sure if it can be done within one year and all online too).

I checked out LSU - FORGET it! Vastly overpriced - $27,000+, GMAT and hey, it's LSU...The land of Mayor Nagin and Huey Long ;>)
(BTW: Don't e-v-e-r let anyone tell you that the Federal Government did nothing during Katrina. The US Coast Guard rescued over 33,522 people of which 7,700+ were flow out by Aircrews - PROUD COAST GUARD FATHER!)
Semper Paratus!

Seriously, is there a regionally accredited little school lurking out there which is the bargain of year and lets you take on their master's program (online) at a very aggressive pace? ;)

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Scott
Charter Oak State College BSBA

I am not sure about accelerated but have a look at this site for a list of schools that seem to fit your other crietia.

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

One of the lessons I learned about education is to consider it a marathon rather than a sprint. Have a look at all schools with the idea of their value for your future before you apply the speed criteria.

[ItsComeToThis]

Sound advice...that's very true, always remember to look at the larger picture.

Also, Google can be a very effective search tool. You may try contacting the University where you got your BA/BS from and ask them who they recommend as Im sure they can help you.

Keep us updated!

[kelkat]

Exactly what does an accelerated program consist of? Does it mean you graduate in one year instead of three?

I would think you could "accelerate" any program if you take a large enough course load.

[jacobmetro]

I don't know kelket, I've talked to a number of colleges whose programs are so inflexible that they throttle your progress through the program under the guise of protecting you from overwork and burnout. In theory, if there were no throttling, you could crash a degree in a few months just using CLEP at excelsior or jefferson or regents.

In my experience, I crashed a 3 year program at WGU down to a year and a half. I could have gotten it down to a year if I had been more steadfast.

WGU has an excellent MBA that can be crashed depending on skill, experience, and the speed you learn (and llearning the system). They are regionally (NWCCU) and nationally (DETC) accred and have several teaching accred for their teaching program as well. They also have the funding and backing of 19 state governments in the western USA.

www.wgu.edu

Jacob M Metro

[johann]

Hi - a few s***estions, Scott!

First, I take it from your Aspen comment that a NA degree isn't what you're looking for? OK, that lets out Columbia Southern and Andrew Jackson! (By the way, you have to meet a whole bunch of requirements for the $4200 deal! Their full rate is more like $9,000.) You can read all about how you can qualify for the $4200 rate at:

http://www.aspen.edu/Surveys/MBA-Survey1.php?gclid=CM7095mk24gCFSLrPgodnGpapQ

This next one is a bit different, in that it's an M.S. in Organizational Management, not an MBA. If you want, have a look at www.peru.edu Peru State is a RA school in Nebraska that has a rep. for good quality and about the lowest RA cost around. Their on-line rate is $162.50 per credit hour, which works out to $5,300 for the 36-unit Master's.

I don't know of ANY RA MBA programs in the U.S. which can come close, under normal conditions!

I BELIEVE the following statement is true - but have it checked by an expert: South African schools with SAQA qualifications are equivalent to RA.

I DO know they are extremely inexpensive in US terms. Try this site (and UNISA) for starters -it'll lead you to others.

http://www.find-mba.com/south-africa

Stick to schools having SAQA qualifications (and .ac domain.)

Reason: there are some perfectly good schools that have .com but they are differently (other than SAQA) accredited which means you might/might not have a problem having them recognized as RA. Again, I'm no expert. If you're going this route, find one! There is a REAL expert on S.A. schools, believe his name is "Jack" at degreeinfo.com

I just looked at one of my favourites - Athabasca University, a Canadian (and RA for U.S.) distance school. www.athabascau.ca Dynamite MBA program, but it's $42,000 - and our weak Canadian dollar has gotten back up on its knees recently, so it's still very expensive in U.S. terms!

Closer to home, our member JacobMetro speaks very highly of his experience at Western Governors, which is both RA and NA. See his comments - strangely they are in the thread "Fake Universities, Rochville etc." but his posting only deals with WGU, which is DEFINITELY "the real deal!" WGU MBA tuition is $3,250 per 6-month term. Dunno how many units you can take per term. Good school - good rep & devoted to competency-based learning. www.wgu.edu

There's an old thread at degreeinfo.com about inexpensive MBA programs. Try a search on that.

I wish you every success. :-)

Johann

[Ahmed]

Hi all

Johann is right about South African MBA's being the cheapest and accredited, I just wanted to clarify something is that all MBA's in South Africa is SAQA accredited, the government has closed and shut down all un-accredited MBA's. So, if you doing an MBA in Sout Africa it does'nt matter which one, you can be sure you will be getting quality education equal to American RA.

The #1 MBA is www.wits.ac.za.
And that expert on South African schools, I think his name is "Jack the Ripper"

[johann]

Ahmed -

When you're talking MBA money, I think people should proceed with caution. Especially in countries where they are unfamiliar with the standards.

I'm NOT AT ALL SURE that a school with .co domain, like Milpark, even properly "registered as a private degree-granting institution under a Government Certificate" is SAQA-qualified, and on the same/equal playing field with UNISA etc!

How do I know FOR SURE it's any better accreditation than than your alma mater, BREYER STATE'S "Alabama State License?"

It probably IS 'way better, but until some expert (like JACK, not you!) tells me it's SAQA ---it ain't!

Yes, Witwatersrand is a fine school, (SAQA, .ac domain) Couldn't find a Distance Ed. MBA program, though!

I short, I don't think ANYONE should take accreditation hints from a BREYER STATE grad! :-(

Johann

[Ahmed]

LOL.......Breyers state Grad.

Believe me, I don't like to lie.....The government of South Africa, has closed all substandard MBA programmes, like Bond university and some other, that I can't remember off hand. just ask Jack.

Irrespective of the domain all MBA's in SA are SAQA approved, you can check them out at www.saqa.org.za. Milpark is part of the Damelin Group of Education institutions, that is SAQA accredited. So I can proudly say that I have an MBA=to RA accreditation, but I cant say the same about Breyer State.

And you right Wits dont have a distance learning program. I think UNISA does, and when doing studies from African countries, one should proceed wit caution as you correctly pointed out, but I can assure you that South Africa, is an exception, all educational institutions has to be SAQA approved, or they are 'illegal' especially the MBA programmes.

For an MBA grad........I can still give some advice on accreditation.....well, at least alittle

Take care

[johann]

Hi Ahmed -

YES I went to the SAQA site
YES there is a list of Accredited Private Higher Education Institutions - and YES Damelin is on it. I believe the schools we are talking about are all CHE-accredited.

YES, that means a great deal more than Alabama State Licensing.
YES, that accreditation likely means it's a very good school.
YES ,the course listings etc. from ones I've read about look excellent..but

NO - it doesn't prove (to me) that they're on the same level with the "OTHER" SAQA list - the one we KNOW is deemed RA equivalent - UNISA, Witwatersrand, UNIZULU etc.

Maybe these private (for profit) schools are! Maybe they're not, yet! It took 40 years and the birth of my grandkids to restore my lost faith in the existence of GOD!

So... with all due respect, Ahmed, it'll SURE AS HELL take more than some one individual's WORD alone to convince me these two sets of schools are both RA equivalent!

Johann

[johann]

Ahmed -

Contrary to what you said, Distance Ed. seekers should ALWAYS proceed with caution...in their HOME country or elsewhere. It's usually a lot of money!

And dealing abroad, where one is unfamiliar, is ALWAYS grounds for caution. No matter how good the "system", it's YOUR money! Someone dealing with South Africa from outside should double-check with EXPERTS - at least to make sure they don't wind up with a degree that may be good, but still not get them where they wanted!!

In other countries (U.S. particularly) QUINTUPLE checking is in order. Never saw a place with such large lists of "Unaccredited" schools like Breyer State, Kennedy Western and Barrington!! Liberia in its heyday was not even close, in number of ..er "schools!" Don't think Seborga or the Seychelles could touch 'em either. A function of the large population I guess...

Johann

[LilOne1989]

I think that one of the reasons there are so many "schools" is because it is so easy to open almost anything if you know how to fill out the paperwork. Once you get the paperwork started anything is open for you to do, legitimate or not.

[Ahmed]

Yes Johann, I could not agree with you more, that people doing studies in foreign countries should be cautious, because its thousands of hard earned dollars that one spends on a degree, and most people want to study to have a better quality life, so the degree that one earns must be worth more than the paper its written on.

And, I counld'nt agree more that one should check with the education deartments in the specific countries and the accreditation of degrees and institutions that people are going to study at.

And as you correctly pointed out that the US is a minefield, there are literarally thousand of colledges on the market, and most seem to be mills. Can one imagine the dissapoint on spending three years studying and spending $$'s towards your studies only to be told, your degree is illegal? What a shame. e.g Breyer state, Kennedy-western, Barrington to mention a few

So the best advice that I could offer that if anyone want to study in Africa, South Africa is the best, and UNISA is tops in distance Education and as far as rankings are concerned UNISA and Wits are on top, at the cheapest price (and they dont' pay me to say that). And I said it before and I'll say it again that all institutions offering MBA's in South Africa are all accredited.

You can ask Jack,

[johann]

Thanks Ahmed

Message received loud and clear.

We're agreed, then. :-)

Johann

[AHMED]

Hi

Johann,seems we do agree expect for the thorny and ever controversial accreditation topic

Take care

[johann]

Hi Ahmed

Maybe we'll even agree on THAT someday!

Take care, my friend!

Johann

[worthingco]

Hi!
I'm looking for the most regarded accelerated and, least expensive means of obtaining an online MBA.
I've looked at Aspen University (oops - only Nationally accredited, by Col. too) $4200.00 + books and lecture notes.
North Central out of Arizona ( regionally accredited, but $13,000+ - No GMAT!)
Plymouth State of NH (regionally accredited - of course, $11,000, No GMAT/GRE, not too sure if it can be done within one year and all online too).

I checked out LSU - FORGET it! Vastly overpriced - $27,000+, GMAT and hey, it's LSU...The land of Mayor Nagin and Huey Long ;>)
(BTW: Don't e-v-e-r let anyone tell you that the Federal Government did nothing during Katrina. The US Coast Guard rescued over 33,522 people of which 7,700+ were flow out by Aircrews - PROUD COAST GUARD FATHER!)
Semper Paratus!

Seriously, is there a regionally accredited little school lurking out there which is the bargain of year and lets you take on their master's program (online) at a very aggressive pace? ;)

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Scott
Charter Oak State College BSBA

Have a look at this thread:

http://forums.degreeboard.com/showthread.php?t=4101&highlight=mba+%2410%2C000

[worthingco]

American Military University
http://www.amu.apus.edu/Academics/Degree-Programs/index.htm

and

University of North Alabama
http://www2.una.edu/business/mba/index.html#Online_MBA_Program

Both offer RA MBA programs & they are very reasonable.