Prestigious business schools are starting to put their degrees on sale like a bakery trying to move day-old croissants.
Driving the news: A number of top universities, including Purdue, University of California, and Johns Hopkins, are offering tuition discounts of up to 50% for certain MBA degrees as they grapple with declining enrolment for programs, per The Wall Street Journal.
In Canada, 84% of schools saw a decline in MBA enrolment last year, including the University of Toronto’s Rotman School — the country’s top-ranked business program.
On top of the tuition discounts, some schools are retooling their MBA programs to offer shorter study periods and more AI-specific skills development.
Why it matters: The MBA, at least in its traditional form, is no longer the silver bullet it once was for finding well-paid work out of school. As a result, more students are thinking twice before spending up to US$300,000 on a degree that may not even guarantee them the chance to rock a Patagonia vest and collect a healthy six-figure paycheque.
A recent Bloomberg analysis found that the return on investment of an MBA has diminished at four out of five U.S. business schools.
The MBA’s pay edge (the earnings boost that graduates get from the degree) shrunk by over 170% at some schools compared to 2024.
Why it’s happening: Having an MBA certainly doesn’t hurt your chances in the job market, but these days, employers are placing a higher value on AI fluency and skills based credentials rather than a second university degree. Last year, mentions of AI literacy skills on LinkedIn job postings — for everything from administrative assistants to writers — nearly tripled compared to 2024.—LA
