Hi everybody happy new year! I was accepted to Michigan - Ross for the MBA class starting in 2018. I was not offered any scholarship money. I have some savings (about $15,000), but the total cost of the program, plus living expenses, adds up to easily over 150,000. Because of this, I am really second guessing accepting the offer.

I can of course take out loans to cover expenses. But now I'm thinking it might be better to just do my MBA at a local school, it would be a lot less investment. If I'm not looking to get into consulting or finance, is a school like Ross still worth that kind of money?

Unless your local school is UvA or BYU, the NPV is very much higher from Michigan.

No, think more along the lines of a small state school.

You think that even if I didn't go into one of the high-salary industries, it would still be worth it?

I think you can do the math yourself. Look at the average salaries from Ross and compare to the average salaries from the small state school. The lifetime value of the better role, not only the salary but there better life that comes from a better job, will be much bigger than the difference in tuition: it will be at least a $500,000 premium.

Since you intend not to get into Consulting/Finance roles why not apply at State schools such as Mich State, Penn State? With your Ross admit such schools might give you full scholarship + stipend to get you to enroll. And state schools like MSU, PSU, ASU etc. are decent brand names as well.

Nothing like a doing your education debt free. If you want the Brand name, there is a price to pay.

Thanks for the advice - I'll look at applying to that level of state school.

Data suggests that top schools like Ross, worth it, yes

Fortunately, Ross provides a detailed salary breakdown - giving averages for the main industries where their MBAs go:

https://michiganross.umich.edu/programs/full-time-mba/careers/employment-data

Honestly, it would depend on your career goals and your current salary. All of the categories show average salaries of at least $110k, so you can use those numbers to do the math, based on where you're at now and how much money in loans you'd be taken out. My sense is that unless you're planning on going to work at a library or something, it would probably be worth it.

Thanks. My goal is to go into an operations / management role in a tech firm like Amazon or Microsoft.