An MBA is a post-graduate degree in business and it is one of the most prestigious and sought-after degrees in our time. Not only is it becoming a nearly-essential qualification for top management and administration, it provides you with the academic and practical knowledge to operate a business. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a rising executive in a large corporation, an MBA will help you to showcase your expertise as a leader in your career field.
Greater earnings come with an MBA: Statistically, someone with an MBA earns as much as one-third to double the annual income of someone with a bachelors degree. (Based on a report by The Graduate Management Admission Council which surveyed 5,829 MBA gradates from 129 business schools in 2005, their average base salary when starting a new job was $90,652. This compares to numbers in the $50,000-$60,000 range for those with a bachelor’s degree.) range for those with a bachelor’s degree.) The Financial Times reported in October, 2005, that MBA graduates reported a salary increase of more than double their pre-MBA incomes. These MBA students indicated that they received an average salary increase of 117%.
Cost of an MBA in traditional school settings: The average cost of an MBA in 2006 appears to be approximately $100,000 and consists of 36-credit hours in required academic study.
Pay $1,000 tor $5,000 for an MBA from Saint James College! This varies because of the amount of real-life experience our government charter permits us to grant...plus adding in any past college credits you may have. We don't bill you for classes for which you've already earned college credits or in real-life experience educational experiences! Because Saint James College is owned by The Love Church Worldwide interfaith-denomination, the college is able to operate with vastly lower expense levels than traditional and for-profit universities.
Credit for Real-Life experience: Our government charter permits us to grant up to 50% of the required 36 credit hours based on your Real Life experience. So, if you have been in business, management, or administration for some time and have acquired significant hands-on experience that we can credit toward your MBA, you may be required to complete only 18-hours of study. But, wait! That may be reduced even further!
ALL previous college / university credits will be accepted: Unlike most colleges and universities, Saint James College will automatically accept all academic credits that you have earned previously at other institutions of higher education. Most schools require that you re-take large numbers of courses when you enroll in their programs, particularly if your credit hours were earned several years ago. This, of course, brings in tidy amounts of extra income for them. But, with Saint James College, we do not use requiring you to re-take classes as a profit center.
Two caveats: Firstly, because we are a relatively new college, we are not yet regionally accredited. This is less and less important in today’s job market where employers are hungry for qualified employees and have fewer concerns about accreditation than in the past. Our degrees may by some states be considered “honorary” but they are real degrees, legitimate, and awarded by a college that is sponsored by a fully-chartered parent, The Love Church Worldwide inter-faith denomination. As many as 99% of non-traditional education students surveyed by a government-sponsored study said that they feel their degree meets or exceeds a traditional degree.
The study showed that roughly one-fifth of those who were awarded a non-traditional under-graduate degree went on to obtain a masters or doctorate. 97% of the non-traditional undergrads were accepted by the grad school that they preferred. Three percent reported some difficulties in presenting a non-accredited degree or transcripts from a non-accredited college, or for having obtain real-life experience credits. The bottom line is that the study showed that a full 94 percent reported no difficulty in being admitted to graduate school due to having an unaccredited degree or earning it through non-traditional or online education.
(See Sosdian, Carol P. and Sharp, Laure M., The External Degree as a Credential: Graduates’ Experience in Employment and Further Study, Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.)
The second caveat is that Saint James College degrees must have a “spiritual flavor” to them. Due to being owned by a chartered religious denomination, the government requires that our degrees be awarded with a relationship to a church or spiritual competency. You may sign your name with your credentials, such as Kathy Smith, MBA, or Larry Jones, MBA … but the government requires that your actual diploma must say “Masters of Business Administration for Religious Institutional Management” or, perhaps, “Masters of Business Administration in Spiritual Organization Management.” Because our degrees were designed at the outset to assist priests, ministers, and spiritual workers to increase their competencies and advance their careers, this has been consistent with our mission. It also enables us to offer MBA degrees for as much as 95% below the “market” cost in traditional education. Nonetheless, this requirement may not be acceptable to all students. Consider all high educational degree programs carefully and choose one that matches your budget and also your professional needs.
