MBA aspirants rely on earnings as grants dry up

By Web   |   Thursday, 15 March, 2012
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An engineering degree coupled with an MBA once held the promise of a high seat in the corporate world. But around the world, engineers have been piped to the post by undergraduate business students wanting to pursue a higher management degree. What has come packaged in the irony of tough economic times is the fact that grants, fellowships and scholarships have declined, forcing students to pay the full price for courses.
This year, more than 2.1 lakh business students from around the world will be applying for an MBA as compared to 1.06 lakh engineers. But in India, little has changed as engineers continue to be the largest cohort of applicants for the MBA programme, distantly followed by those who studied commerce and business.
The typical Indian MBA aspirant is a male in his mid or late 20s whose preferred destination is the US; what has changed is that fewer Indians, like most others, are depending on their personal savings for funding their MBA.
Falling government funds, shrinking endowments and the dry patch in corporate research projects that are outsourced to campuses have forced several universities to turn down or waitlist students who are unable to pay the full fees, said experts. "Grants, fellowships, scholarships and loans have declined globally, and these sources are now expected to make up less of the prospective student's total financial package," the survey said.
For instance, the percentage of prospective students who will rely on grants, fellowships, and scholarships fell from 64% in 2007 to 49% in 2011. "The most common reservation to pursuing a graduate business degree has consistently been the belief that it requires more money than prospects have available," the survey said. In fact, several students, after their undergraduate degree, worked for close to five years to raise resources to fund their MBA.
Closer home, fewer Indians are depending on fellowships and scholarships. Between 2009 and 2011, these numbers fell from close to 30% to 20%. In 2011, one out of every 11 Indian students said they would seek loans to fund their masters’ education. Also, 37.6% of students would pay tuition out of their own savings, parental support, personal savings or spouse's earnings; in 2009, 30% of students paid for tuitions out of their personal savings.
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