Even As They Proliferate, Online MBAs Remain Controversial

Even As They Proliferate, Online MBAs Remain Controversial
Menachem Wecker

Though some applaud the flexibility and cost of online M.B.A.s, others say their value is inflated

In an early October press release, Saint Leo University , a private Catholic school based in Florida, announced a new $12 million building for its School of Business -- $4 million of which came from Donald Tapia, an alumnus of its online B.A. and M.B.A. programs. "Although Don Tapia never stepped foot on campus until his undergraduate commencement, he has left a lasting imprint on the Saint Leo campus," according to the release.

Not only are online M.B.A. programs helping schools like Saint Leo raise money, but they are also increasingly popping up at universities all over the world. Some of the highest ranked U.S. News's Best Business Schools have online M.B.A.s, including Indiana University -- Bloomington's Kelley School of Business , Pennsylvania State University -- University Park's Smeal College of Business , and University of North Carolina -- Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School . And some schools, such as Duke University's Fuqua School of Business , offer blended programs, which have an online component.

But not everyone admires this trend. When New York-based career coach Roy Cohen talks about online M.B.A.s, he doesn't hold back.

"[A]n online M.B.A. has virtually no measurable value with respect to [the] job search and career management," says Cohen, author of The Wall Street Professional's Survival Guide. "Its only value is to the schools and private companies that market them to an increasingly nervous universe of worried workers."

In a difficult economy where graduates of top M.B.A. programs struggle to find jobs, only students interested in simply furthering their education, rather than vocational opportunities, should pursue online M.B.A.s, Cohen says.

A 2010 report published by the Society for Human Resource Management, which has more than 250,000 members in 140 countries, seems to support Cohen's opinion.

Just 34 percent of the nearly 450 human resources professionals surveyed for the report said they viewed job applicants with online degrees as favorably as alumni of traditional programs. Fifty-five percent said they wouldn't penalize online degree holders with the same job experience as candidates with traditional degrees, but only 15 percent thought online degrees were appropriate for executive-level hires.

Although the poll didn't focus on online M.B.A.s, it showed that attitudes toward online programs may be slipping. In 2009, 90 percent of respondents thought views of online programs had improved in a five-year span; in 2010, the percentage had dropped to 87.

"Unfortunately, there is still a strange stigma associated with online programs," says Emily Stancil, marketing manager at a financial analysis firm in Raleigh, N.C., and an online M.B.A. candidate at Arizona State University .

Stancil says skeptics of online M.B.A. programs often don't understand how they work. "My program is incredibly structured; we take one class at a time," she says. "We are in constant contact online with our group members, our professors, as well as our online advisers."

George Lorenzo, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your M.B.A. Online, says the content of courses in traditional and online M.B.A.s are the same, so they ought to be treated equally.

"In fact, in today's digital world, I believe an online M.B.A. can be considered valuable, because these grads pick up solid electronic communication and presentation skills that are frequently used in a more globalized corporate world," he says.

Jonathan Blaine, who holds a B.S. and an M.B.A. from the nonprofit online school Western Governors University (WGU), blames the negative reputation of online programs on some of his alma mater's competition. "Unfortunately 'online' often has been stigmatized due to the often shoddy education at the private, for-profit online schools," he says, but also adds that he's seen the reputation of online M.B.A.s improve since he was an "online guinea pig" in 2005.

Other WGU students and alumni cite unique benefits of online M.B.A.s. David Neville, who works for Utah's Department of Health, says graduating with minimal debt -- he paid $12,000 for his WGU M.B.A. -- allowed him to be more flexible in his job hunt. Paying off loans of a traditional M.B.A. would have put him in "financial servitude," he says.

Troy Jenkins says as a frequent traveler and husband and father of two teenage boys, he appreciated the program's flexibility. "[T]he majority of my M.B.A. was done in planes, trains, and automobiles, [and] hotel rooms," he says. Though he understands it would be tough to compete with an M.B.A. from Harvard University , he adds, "In most cases, my M.B.A. from WGU and 20-plus years' experience goes a long way. I had multiple companies coming after me when I received my M.B.A."

It's too early to tell what kind of job prospects will face alumni of the Kenan-Flagler Business School's online MBA@UNC, because the program just launched this fall, says Shelly Gorman, director of career management. Recruiters often express "curiosity" about the program's quality before Gorman tells them the online and residential programs have the same curriculum, faculty, and admissions criteria, she says.

"They [then] view the students as innovators -- early adopters, if you will -- who are both flexible and mobile," she notes.

But Cohen, the career coach in New York, thinks online M.B.A.s have a very different reputation.

"The standards for admission and matriculation are usually far more relaxed than traditional programs -- full-time, executive, and part-time," he says. [T]he vetting that is always assumed from the onset in the [online] admissions process cannot be relied on by prospective employers."