The real cost of an online MBA is not the fee
Two years of evenings is the same for everyone, whatever they paid. That is what makes the cheap programme such good value and the abandoned one so expensive.
Six to ten hours a week for two years is roughly seven hundred hours. That cost is identical whether you paid ₹38,000 or ₹2,00,000, and it is far larger than the fee for most people.
It is also the cost nobody budgets for, which is why completion rates in distance education are what they are.
The most expensive online MBA is the one you do not finish.
The arithmetic worth doing before you enrol
- Do you have six to ten hours a week, reliably, for two years?
- Do live sessions clash with anything you cannot move?
- What is the maximum permitted period if life interrupts?
- What is the total fee — including examination, re-registration and certificate charges?
Why this argues for the cheaper programme, usually
If the time cost is fixed and the recognition is identical, the fee is buying teaching and cohort. Those are worth money only if you will consume them. Most people paying a premium for live sessions do not attend the live sessions.
More in Money
Money
The ₹2 lakh online MBA is selling you the same degree as the ₹38,000 one
Below a certain price the differences are real. Above it, you are buying teaching and a cohort — not recognition. Almost nobody says which one they are selling you.
MoneyPlacement claims on online MBAs are almost entirely unverifiable
The number in the brochure is the highest package, from an unstated cohort, over an unstated period. Ask for the median and watch what happens.
MoneyThree fee tiers, and what each one actually buys
Under ₹1 lakh, ₹1–2 lakh, above ₹2 lakh. The differences within a band are far smaller than the marketing suggests.