The Price of an M.B.A. at This School? Free

Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/15/2015 | Lindsay Gellman

[SeekAndFind]

One program at Arizona State University’s business school has a brand-new price tag: $0.

Starting next fall, the W. P. Carey School of Business plans to offer full scholarships to all incoming full-time M.B.A. students. The goal is to attract students with nontraditional backgrounds and career aims, and kick off a new business curriculum, leaders say.

At the heart of the decision to eliminate tuition was school leaders’ desire to change the complexion of its M.B.A. class, said Carey’s dean, Amy Hillman. Carey’s full-time M.B.A. student body is “a fairly traditional M.B.A. class,” in Ms. Hillman’s words, with the bulk of graduates going into technology, manufacturing and finance, according to school placement figures.

School leaders realized the sticker price for the two-year M.B.A. program—which runs from $54,000 for in-state residents to $90,000 for international students—deterred students who were interested in pursuing careers in nonprofits or those who felt they couldn’t afford the opportunity cost of attending. They wondered what would happen if the cost of attendance were no longer a barrier.

So they turned to a $50 million donation given in 2003 from real-estate mogul and philanthropist William Carey. That money had been put toward recruiting new faculty, but Ms. Hillman said her administration agreed it was time to spend the money on students.

Some 86 first-year students are currently enrolled in Carey’s full-time M.B.A. class, but the school will cover free rides for up to 120 students starting in the fall of 2016; the school declined to provide cost estimates.

The business school enrolls more than 13,500 students in total, including more than 12,000 undergraduates and nearly 800 students in its portfolio of M.B.A. programs, which includes part-time and online degrees.

[dfwgator]

And worth every penny.

[SeekAndFind]

SOURCE: AZ CENTRAL

Once again ASU shows up as the butt of a joke, this time in "Dumb and Dumber To." I mentioned this in my review, but I didn't give the joke away because I wanted Sun Devils to, um, experience it themselves, first hand. But now that the movie is out -- and winning the box office with a haul of more than $38 million -- we're probably past the point of spoiler alerts for a throwaway joke.

So here goes: Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) are reunited after a two-decade practical joke (don't ask). Harry hasn't checked his mail in 20 years, so as he's flipping through the stack he looks at a letter, says, "Oh, I got into Arizona State University," shrugs and tosses it aside.

The joke being, obviously, that ASU is so easy to get into one of these guys managed to. I didn't say it was a good joke (few are in this movie). Just that it was there.

This is not the first time pop culture has poked fun at ASU. Probably the best-known occurrence was the episode of "The Simpsons" in which a flood hits Springfield. Flanders, Homer's self-righteous neighbor, says to his wife, "Maude, it's a miracle! The Lord has drowned the wicked and spared the righteous." She replies, "Isn't that Homer Simpson?" To which Flanders says, "Looks like Heaven's easier to get into than Arizona State."

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST...

[SeekAndFind]

In “30 Rock” (see below) Alec Baldwin’s smarmy executive offered the following assessment of parenthood: “A parent is the one person who is supposed to make their kid think they can do anything — says they’re beautiful, even when they’re ugly, thinks they’re smart, event when they go to Arizona State.”

OUCH.

[9YearLurker]

Then there’s always good old Hard Knocks U.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

So make the MBA the new BA, which was made the new HS diploma. #yay

[subterfuge]

Why not just pay people to take their classes?

[EQAndyBuzz]

I’ll take the free education. Problem is will it matter to companies who look for MBA’s?

If companies don’t care and an MBA is a requirement, sign me up.

[stephenjohnbanker]

LOL!!

[subterfuge]

I work on defense and my NAB hasn’t done anything for my career. Host sayin.

[subterfuge]

MBA...stupid auto correct

[subterfuge]

I give up...

[EQAndyBuzz]

Pretty much any job I apply to has BA mandatory, MBA preferred.

Can’t tell you how many jobs I lost to someone with 1/10 my experience because he had a degree. So after 35 years I decided to go back to school. Will have my degree next year.

[West Texas Chuck]

LOL

[subterfuge]

Awesome. Do it to it Andy!