They say you cannot put a price on education. That a good education is the best gift we can give our next generation. And that good education creates opportunities of a lifetime. True. However, the path towards realising these dreams of success is often ridden with financial struggles.
Why?
Firstly, education, especially higher education, is costly. According to the Indian Ministry of Statistics, the cost of an undergraduate engineering degree in a government aided institute like the IIT, has gone up from INR 2,00,000 in 2008 to nearly INR 10,00,000 currently.
Secondly, and mostly because of the “first”, affording such expensive education limits the reach to higher income households. And finally, even with an advanced degree, the opportunities of employment are often slim. Not to mention that for many many households that rely on their members to contribute towards their household income, tying a few of them up in full-time programs loses out on opportunity cost.
MBA, as we are all aware, is one of the most career launching degrees out there which has survived and reigned for decades. Students use a reliable MBA degree to fast forward their career, change their career, or even start a fresh business, with all that they acquire in the program – education, experience, network, and more. But this comes at a cost. International MBA degrees can charge in the neighbourhood of $100k alone, notwithstanding the living expenses. However, even on the home turf, Indian MBAs can be particularly pocket shattering. An MBA from IIMA can cost about INR 25,00,000 while that at ISB, nearly INR 42,00,000.
Now that we have primed up your thoughts to the natural question, let us jump right in. Can anyone belonging to an average middle class household income dream of enrolling in an MBA program? What is the guarantee that their investment will reap benefits? Are their any alternatives?
How can middle class Indians afford an MBA?
Most MBA students are not in a position to afford the tuition without the aid of some kind of financial funding. If your name doesn’t happen to be [insert first name] A___*ani, you will most likely be headed to a banking institution exploring your options on Student Loans. These too come in various shapes and paper forms. There are the garden variety student loans that expect you to start paying upon graduation and employment, with interest frozen until such. Then there are those that require a co-signer and those, that don’t, to make things more trusting and easier for you to process.
You can even look into possibly working with foreign banks like Citizens One Private Student Loan, Discover Student Loans, Sallie Mae, etc. or private institutions like Prodigy Finance which is a provider of student loans for pursuing international postgraduate studies (Master’s degree) without a co-signer or co-lateral. There are also alternate options like non-banking financial companies (NBFC) for education loans abroad. Some of the top NBFC loans are offered by HFC Credila Education Loans, InCred Education Loans, Eduvanz, etc. These NBFCs offer much more than tuition expenses, have very long (typically 10 years) repayment period, minimal disbursement time, insurance coverage, and more.
Scholarships
If your profile makes you eligible to apply for and receive one of the many university or private offerings of scholarships, your financial headaches will be virtually a thing of your struggling past. No student debt, no interests, and all the glory. Any middle class Indian, looking into MBA, will be remiss to ignore the variety of scholarship opportunities available before even considering taking out a hefty loan.
Company Sponsorships
Employed candidates who are looking to up their skill set often get the privileged opportunity to be funded by their parent company. Of course with the promise of getting back to the same organisation in a more advanced role.
Graduate Assistantship
Though not enough to pay your way entirely, a graduate assistantship in the form of teaching or research fellow, can help offset a big part of your costs. Typically, they get paid a stipend with the added benefit of working closely with peers and faculty members.
For more insight on how to cash in on paid opportunities to help you sail through your MBA degree, we suggest you check out our MBA Financing Archives with plenty of articles dwelling into graduate funding.
Part-Time anyone?
Taking time out for full time school may not be an option for a couple of reasons. Of course one needs to ensure there is enough in the pot to invest in education in the hope of securing of a better career. On the other hand, there is also the part about letting go of ones’ job and its security to pursue a relatively unknown future. This opportunity loss and gamble can be eliminated to a large extent by getting into part-time MBA programs.
For instance, here’s how this UCLA part-time MBA student managed his current job in the US while pursuing his education goals.
Meanwhile, here are more than a few success stories of Indian candidates from humble backgrounds who managed to achieve their dream school admission with financial aid. Read their stories first hand and take what you have to, to make your own MBA dreams possible.
MBA Success Stories among Middle Class Indians
From humble beginnings to India’s best b-school
We start this section with the awe inspiring story of this student who began his education in a village, as no other city bred applicant, with little to no resources in his favour. He exceeded all expectations and managed to enter ISB for an Executive MBA, while still employed. Win-Win!
Small town beginnings.
This Ivy League (Columbia Business School) admit after 30 had a few drawbacks that could have easily held him back. His resilience and trust in his abilities made him overcome his poor academic grades and mature application age to make it into Columbia. Want to know how?
Did you say “yes” to the Scholarship?
– When pockets are not deep and your dream school (Smeal) happens to give a hearty nod to a 100% tuition with stipend, the story becomes one for the “keeps”. Find out how this typical average middle class Indian got into Penn State MBA with a pot of gold.
– While applying to MBA abroad, Santosh wanted to ensure that his finances were not jeopardised for his future. His strategy paid off when he got a 100% scholarship to Minnesota’s Carlson MBA. Find out how he managed it.
– What would you say to a great MBA offer? And now what would you say to a great MBA offer with 100% scholarship? One lucky and deserving candidate grabbed this golden pot with other offers to spare. Here’s his story.
– Another story about 100% MBA tuition waiver helped this CA make it into ISB, thus making his MBA efforts succeed with minimal cost.
– Would you consider leaving the security of a government job and pursuing MBA? This Berkeley Haas MBA admit with INR 66,00,000 scholarship, shares how he went to the top university from a small town in Punjab.
Our MBA success story archive is full of such “rich” stories where your everyday middle class common man or woman was able to break the financial strains and achieve MBA admits. Are you looking and worried still for your pocket?
If you are in need of professional help sorting your dreams into reality, write to us at info[at]mbacrystalball[dot]com
Sources: 1 | Image: Amit Ranjan (Unsplash)
