Deciding whether – and where – to pursue an MBA can feel like placing a six-figure bet on a future that is getting harder to predict. Tuition is only the start. Borrowing accumulates interest, time away from work can mean years of lost earnings, and the salary increase you expect to see upon graduation may depend on an economy and job market that are changing quickly. Bloomberg’s latest analysis puts the typical all-in MBA investment at $305,409, with a median annualized ROI of 12.3% across the US schools it analyzed. Those averages offer little certainty about any one person’s outcome. And now AI is changing the work ahead at a pace that makes the calculation even more unsettling.
Gies College of Business’ fully online MBA program – known as the iMBA® – offers a powerful way to lower that exposure. Built for working professionals, the fully online program lets learners keep earning while they study, bringing new skills into their current roles as they build toward what comes next. Students can take one or two courses at a time, adjust their pace, and complete the degree on a timeline that fits their life – whether that be 24 months, 60 months, or anywhere in between.
A portion of our students also use employer tuition benefits to fund their degree. Spread across two to three years, employer benefits can cover a meaningful share of the iMBA's cost. That's a very different conversation than the one happening at programs where students are staring down six-figure debt before they've taken a single class.
This structure helps lift the burden of high costs and uncertain returns. Learners can preserve career momentum and begin applying their education before graduation. The value can take shape through stronger decisions, new responsibilities, and opportunities at work throughout the program.
All of these benefits come with the promise of a rigorous, high-quality education from one of the world’s top public universities. iMBA students learn from University of Illinois faculty – the same faculty who teach the College’s on-campus programs – through a combination of self-paced coursework, live classes, office hours, group discussions, and team projects with peers around the world. The curriculum connects business theory with current issues and practical applications. Students can tailor their studies to areas such as analytics, entrepreneurship, healthcare innovation, and global challenges. The iMBA is AACSB-accredited, and 95 percent of learners say they’re satisfied with their experience at Gies Business.
The career outcomes show how value can begin to build while students are still enrolled. Ninety-four percent of iMBA alumni applied what they learned to their work. That is instant ROI that is showing up in the boardroom and in their pocketbooks long before graduation. Sixty-five percent of iMBA students received a promotion, job offer, or new position during the program, and the average reported pay increase during the program was 25 percent.
The iMBA also prepares students to lead and navigate an AI-enabled business environment. As technology reshapes business, professionals need more than just technical skills. They need the critical thinking and judgment to evaluate information, challenge assumptions, ask better questions, and make sound decisions with new tools. AI and analytics are built into the iMBA to deliver those needed skills. Through core and elective courses, students are exposed to not only the fundamentals of AI, but also how AI is being applied across specific business domains.
An MBA shouldn’t force you to press pause on your life; it should fit into a life already in motion. The fully online format helps students stay close to the people and work that matter as they grow their capabilities. iMBA students bring professional experience from hundreds of industries and countries all around the world. They learn alongside peers who not only challenge them, but also understand the demands of balancing an education, work, and family.
When we launched the iMBA in 2016, all of that felt like a radical framing. Most of the conversation around graduate business education assumed that quality and affordability were in tension – that you couldn't have both. We knew that wasn’t true.
The all-in investment in a Gies Business MBA is just a little more than $27,000 – less than 10 percent of the median cost of other top MBA programs. That investment supports a high-quality University of Illinois education, relevant learning that can be applied immediately, a global peer community, and the flexibility to keep working. Together, those features completely change the ROI calculation of an MBA.
In an era – and economy – where the return on an MBA can be hard to justify, the Gies Business iMBA presents a clearer path. Keep earning, put new skills to work, and prepare to lead in an AI-shaped economy. That’s a return to you can take to the bank – and it starts long before graduation.
AUTHOR
Ravi Mehta, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Professor of Business Administration and Walter H. Stellner Professor of Marketing, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign