Press Release from Chicago Booth MBA

A new survey from the Executive MBA Council says that EMBA holders are more likely to receive higher salaries and bonus packages after earning their EMBA degrees than most other MBA holders, especially in an unstable economy.

The 2012 Student Exit Benchmarking Survey, which was designed to investigate the investment-worthiness and quality of various EMBA programs, unveiled that the EMBA graduates of 2012 saw a 17.3 percent increase in their salaries—from the beginning to the end of their EMBA programs.

The average compensation package for graduates, which was initially $140,587 at the start of their EMBA program, increased to $164,845 upon completing their EMBA programs. In 2011, students saw similar results, increasing their salaries by 16.3 percent after graduation.

The 2012 Surveyors included 3,072 students from 98 different EMBA programs in the U.S.

While EMBAs can give you the tools to climb up the ladder in the professional world and hopefully gain a higher salary, remember that not all EMBA programs should be treated the same.

That said, here are essential factors that you should consider before deciding on a particular EMBA program:

• Quality of Curriculum
• Quality of Teaching Methods: Lectures, effectiveness, etc.
• Quality of Faculty

Do as much research as you can so that you can properly evaluate your EMBA program of choice. The internet is a good place to start for teacher biographies and credentials as well as review sites from pervious sites—but don’t depend on these resources too much. Sometimes you have to really dig and get your feet wet to really see whether the EMBA program you’re looking into is really right for you.

For example, a really smart way to go about your research is to see if you can get in touch with a current student or alumni to get their personal opinion on the program—does he or she recommend you enroll in the program or run for the hills?

You can also see if you can audit the class, so you can get a firsthand account of how the instructor teaches and interacts with the class. The is the best way to determine if you like the way your instructor(s) teach and if the program is a good fit for you.

Kate Willson is a freelance education writer that covers everything from traditional to alternative learning programs. She welcomes your comments.

We all are keenly watching the national debates. A discussion around changing corporate tax rates is one of the many hot topics between President Obama and Gov Mitt Romney. It even came up briefly with Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Paul Ryan last evening. Regardless of which side of the aisle you sit on the fact is that corporations maximize deductions whenever possible and corporate investments in education, job training, and retraining are such expenses that offer important deductions. At the same time, if these are so important and valuable deductions for corporations then why is corporate sponsorship at an all time low? The simple answer is that education is an easy target for corporate savings and the savings outweigh the overall deduction. Approximately 18% of all Executive MBA students are fully corporate sponsored and more than 30% are fully self sponsored. This is a complete reversal from ten years ago.

I open up the discussion on any thoughts or opinions on the sad state of affairs in how times have changed. Here are some questions you can ponder.

Should corporations even get a deduction for employee education?

Should corporations get a larger deduction or given the debt crisis this is one deduction the nation can afford to lose?

Given the mobility of our economy why should corporations be stuck with a bill given the employee could seek employment elsewhere after graduation?

Why is education becoming so expensive and with a drop in sponsorship programs and potential risk in cuts in backing student loans, what could ultimately happen to our state of affairs?

The total tuition costs of online MBA programs vary from school to school, and many factors go into the tuition rate that your institution will need to charge. It seems simple enough to look at the projected tuition rates for schools that you like and comparison shop from there, but it is also important to be aware of the reasons some programs costs more than others. Could you be getting an equivalent education at a much better price? Check out the top factors that affect online tuition costs so you can stay informed and save yourself some hard-earned money.

1. Public vs. Private:

One of the biggest differences when it comes to education costs in the United States is whether or not a school is public or private. Public schools receive money from taxpayers and additional government funding in order to stay running. This is why public school tuition rates are so much lower than private school rates. Look into whether or not the schools you are considering are public or private institutions. You could save a large amount on tuition by looking at similar programs at public schools, rather than private schools.

2. Online vs. Traditional:

There are three main types of schools that offer online degrees: schools that are completely online, schools that are mainly online but also offer campus courses at various locations, and schools that started as traditional universities but now also offer online courses. Schools that are completely online have the lowest amount of overhead and can charge much less than the schools that need to maintain campuses. Don’t disregard an inexpensive program just because it seems like the more you pay, the better your education will be. Online schools charge less because they can, not necessarily because their degree programs are less valid.

3. Technology Costs

If you are looking into schools that are just starting out in online education, you may end up paying more than you should, because you are also covering the costs of those universities’ integration of the necessary technology into their current curriculum. Also, figure out if there is tons of money being spent on new technology for some disciplines, while others remain overlooked. Make sure you are putting money into a school that is also putting money back into your program.

4. Course Materials and Student Fees

Course materials and students fees are not always factored in to the tuition rates advertised by many online schools. Traditional universities tend to list tuition costs that cover everything you will need to study at that institution, including living expenses, while many online universities simply provide base tuition rates. Make sure to do your research and look into how much course materials ad technology fees will run you for your online MBA program before comparing costs.

By-line:

Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/. She welcomes your comments at her email: alvina.lopez@gmail.com.

Our global partners QS World MBA Tour is coming to North America and if you are interested in the MBA or Exeutive MBA, then this event is for you.

• You are looking to study an MBA program at one of the world’s best business schools
• You are interested in talking directly with admissions officers from the most prestigious B-Schools
• You would like to take or improve your GMAT score
• You would like to meet Ivy League MBA Alumni who can give you advice on their MBA experience
• You are interested in MBA scholarship opportunities and funding advice
• You would like to know what career opportunities are available after your MBA

In selected cities MBA Alumni Panel from Wharton, Harvard, Columbia and Stanford hosted by Admit Advantage

CLick here to see the QS MBA Tour Schedule: World MBA Tour Comes to North America

When five students from The University of South Florida’s Executive MBA program were tasked with
developing a marketing plan for their Marketing Management course, their vision went beyond simply
earning an A grade for the project. They aspired to make a difference by offering their insight to the local
wing of a national non-profit organization.

“We didn’t want all of that work to simply end up in the professor’s filing cabinet,” said Austin Cline,
one of the group’s members. “We knew that Habitat for Humanity Hillsborough needed help and we
wanted to contribute to their mission.”

The team consisted of first year Executive MBA students Sarah Arnold, Austin Cline, Andre
Kirwan, Tighe Sefcik and Bob Woerner. Together they developed a plan that centered around 28
recommendations focusing on four key units of the non-profit: the ReStore, Donors, General Awareness
and Operations.

“The goal of our plan was to raise awareness of the organization and drive sales in the organization’s
ReStore,” said team member Bob Woerner. The ReStore accepts donations of new and used furniture, flooring, cabinets, Tools, Paint, Plumbing and
a number of other items that are then refurbished and resold to consumers and businesses at affordable
prices. The profits are then put back into operations and projects with which Habitat Hillsborough is
involved.

The team members individually interviewed executives within
the organization to gain insight into the operations. Since
Arnold was the only member with a significant degree of
familiarity, the rest of the team members visited the various
facilities several times to get an idea of how they operated.

The group split up the work according to their professional
specialties. Arnold provided all of the preliminary information
about the organization and orchestrated all of the meetings with
staff. Kirwan’s background in the financial industry allowed
him to deal efficiently with fundraising and donor efforts. Woerner dealt with internal process and
software, and Cline and Sefcik concentrated on the “guts” of the project as well as the overall strategy
focus.

After enduring sleepless nights, countless hours of compiling data, and juggling personal, professional,
and academic responsibilities, the effort finally paid off. The presentation to marketing professor Paul
Solomon was a success, but the group members were not sure that gaining an audience with decision
makers at Habitat Hillsborough to present their findings would be as simple a task.

Fortunately the team had a secret weapon. Sarah Arnold’s position as the head of the construction department at Habitat Hillsborough gave the team
the opening that they needed to persuade the CEO and his colleagues to listen to the group present their
findings. Through her connections the team was able to gain access to aspects of the organization that
only an insider could.

“Sarah could give us unfettered access to the staff and other pertinent material that would have been much
more difficult to obtain,” said Cline. As the project progressed, Arnold was working behind the scenes to secure a meeting with the CEO Brian
Hastings, Board Chairman Rob Martin, and Retail Director Kent Bell. It turned out that the executives
were as eager to hear what the team had to offer as the team was to present to them.

“At their request, Sarah provided them with copies of the main document,” said group member Tighe
Sefcik. “They then requested to meet with us to discuss our findings and ask follow-up questions
regarding our analysis and action plans.”

The team organized a meeting outside of class to go back over the original presentation that they had
given in class. Tweaks were made to shift the focus from presenting for a grade to presenting a plan to a
group of executives that were interested in potentially incorporating the concepts into the organization’s
actual marketing plan.

Arnold opened the presentation with a summary of the group’s objectives and an overview of the topics
that they would present. The rest of the members took turns, each presenting a different section of
material to the panel. The response was very enthusiastic.

“Our presentation drove a lot of discussion and it became very interactive and was very well received,”
said Sefcik. “They talked about making our plan a working document, which they would market the
business around in the future.”

Funding for non-profits can sometimes prove difficult to acquire. The development of a marketing plan
can be too time consuming and costly a project to undertake and is not always feasible, especially to
produce a workable plan with the care and expertise that the students put into their project.

“Based on the feedback, our plan will become their operating marketing plan,” said Cline. “They really
didn’t have one prior to this.”

The combination of the knowledge that the students gained while involved in the marketing course and
the years of professional experience that each offered allowed the students to turn their project into a
working marketing plan for a respected non-profit organization. Not only did the success confirm the
validity of their findings, but it provided the hope that their efforts would help raise awareness of the
work that is being done by Habitat Hillsborough and bring joy and hope to other’s lives along the way.

This article was brought to EMBA World by its author Anthony Gaenzle writes for the University of Southern Florida Executive MBA. You can learn more at: http://business.usf.edu/programs/emba/

This article was written by Tom Walsh and found the website: http://www.cityam.com/business-features/buyer-beware-probe-past-headline-figures

EACH year, the Financial Times (FT) creates an interactive guide to the world’s best executive MBA (EMBA) programmes. Its headline figures are the result of a weighted formula – average alumnus salary contends with diversity indices and career progress rankings — and schools make proud use of these findings in their marketing. Described as a list of the “best management programmes available”, it is a useful tool for applicants to find the right EMBA.