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#Villanova To Enter Fast Growing Online MBA Market - Poets and Quants Poets and Quants

by John A. Byrne Poets Quants Author on January 30, 2014

Three months after gaining a $50 million gift from an alumnus and his wife, Villanova University’s School of Business announced today (Jan. 30) that it would enter the online MBA market.

The program, to be taught with the university’s same part-time MBA curriculum by the same faculty, will launch this fall at a cost of about $60,000. At that price point, Villanova s program will cost twice as much as the least expensive online program offered by a U.S. business school ranked in the Top 100 Auburn University which has priced its program at just $27,000 and half as much as the most expensive online program by a highly ranked school Carnegie Mellon University s Tepper School whose online MBA costs $118,000.

Villanova thus joins a growing number of business schools that are launching online versions of their MBA degree programs. Earlier this month, the University of Maryland s Smith School took in its inaugural online cohort of 19 students. The Smith Online MBA program expects to take in four cohorts annually. Smith s 21-month program has a $80,0000 price tag.

Villanova said its online MBA will feature a three-day leadership challenge on-campus that kicks off the program as well as a one-week immersion trip to an emerging market country, which is part of the school’s capstone Global Consulting Practicum.

Most of the program will be asynchronous—meaning the classes can be taken at any time because they are archived online. The 48 credits required to complete the program can be wrapped up in as little as two years.

Villanova also said it would launch an online master of science in analytics program in the fall as well. The program will teach students the whole analytics continuum, from data collection to analysis to implementation.

Both programs come in the aftermath of a $50 million commitment made last October by alumnus James C. Davis ’81 VSB and his wife, Kim. It is the largest-ever gift to Villanova University,