The high cost of an MBA and the pressure to stay in work to continue earning mean MBA candidates are particularly discerning about the potential return on their investment (ROI). Calculating a business school's ROI is vital when weighing up your options.
The Financial Times releases its Global MBA Ranking annually, featuring the top 100 full-time MBA programs worldwide. As part of the process, the FT totals up each school's ‘value for money’. This is calculated by dividing the average salary alumni earn three years after completion by the MBA’s total cost, including tuition, lost salary, opportunity cost, and other expenses. Any scholarship assistance given to alumni is subtracted from the total.
Eager to see how each school performs? Here, we examine some of the best-value, full-time MBA programs according to the FT 2025 MBA Ranking.
Best-value MBA programs
In 2025, the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business tops the list of the best-value MBA programs for the second consecutive year, despite ranking in 55th place overall.
The tuition fees for the two-year MBA program are $13,918 annually for Georgia residents, $34,236 for non-residents, and $34,888 for international students. That adds up to under $30,000 for the whole program for in-state students and under $70,000 for out-of-state students.
By contrast, just one year at the top-ranking MBA program overall, Wharton, costs over $127,000.
Not only are tuition fees low at Georgia: Terry, but salaries that students earn after graduation are high. According to the FT’s list, the average weighted salary of a Georgia: Terry MBA three years after graduation is over $141,000, with an average salary increase of 155% between pre and post-study. For a complete comparison, salaries earned by Wharton MBA grads after three years amount to more than $240,000—$100k higher.
The second best-value MBA on the FT’s list is the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business. Ranked 48th overall, the school is one of the highest-ranking programs to feature on this list of the best-value MBAs.
Warrington's one-year MBA program for all majors costs $25,473 for residents, plus a professional development fee of $1,000. Average alumni salaries after graduation are even higher than at Georgia: Terry, at over $144,000, although the percentage increase is marginally lower at 122%.
Top MBAs for value for money
*Weighted salary refers to the average salaries graduates earn three years after graduation
European MBA programs are generally shorter than those offered in the US—thus reducing both tuition and opportunity costs—therefore, it is no surprise that four European programs are featured on the list.
The highest-ranked MBA program on this list is offered by SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan. It ranks fourth overall in the global rankings and 15th in terms of value for money. This represents a notable decline compared to 2024, when it held the fifth position. Bocconi and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics: College of Business (SUFE) are the only schools in the top 20 to rank highly for value.
The MBA program at Bocconi requires significant financial commitment, with the tuition fee totalling €82,000 ($85,924). However, this fee can be paid in four installments, beginning with a €10,000 ($10,400) payment to confirm your acceptance into the program.
The only Irish school in the global ranking—and one of the best for value for money—is the MBA at the University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, where tuition costs €37,910 ($39,724) for the full-time MBA program. Smurfit MBAs increase their salaries by 91% on average, achieving average yearly pay packages of nearly $141,000.
Out of the top 15 schools for value for money, only five are from outside the US and Europe. The first is Nanyang Business School at NTU Singapore, where grads secure a 142% average increase in their salaries after graduation, from an investment of $81,750 in tuition.
MBA ROI: What will you earn?
The average salary for graduates on this list of the best-value MBA programs is just over $161,000. Although this is $80,000 shy of the top-ranking MBA programs—Columbia Business School grads also earn more than $240,000—it still represents an average of 153% increase in salary from pre-MBA, which is greater than Wharton (113%) and Columbia (131%).
The highest salary increase seen by grads from all the schools in this list comes from SUFE in China. The school offers a two-year, full-time MBA in mainland China for just CNY 300,000 (US $41,300), but graduates increase their salaries by an average of 195%, with an average salary of over $226,000 after three years.
Graduates from SDA Bocconi rank second on the list, with an average salary of just over $217,000. Moving up one position from last year, Nanyang Business School now has the third highest average salary, totalling more than $186,000.
The lowest salary reported among the top 15 business schools was from EMLyon Business School. Despite being more modest than others, it exceeded $138,000, making it still a significant amount.
This year's list of the top 15 best-value MBA programs has seen significant change when compared with last year, including several newcomers to the list, such as EMLyon Business School, Texas A&M University Mays Business School, and the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
A few institutions dropped from the list altogether, including Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business, the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, and Audencia Business School.
Among the schools that remained in the top 15, there were a few notable changes. The most significant was Bocconi's drop from fifth to 15th place. Smurfit is also now the only Irish school within the best value ranking, as it was joined by Trinity College Dublin's Trinity Business School in 2024.
There were some consistencies among the best value MBA programs, however, with the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business maintaining the title of best business school for return on investment for the second consecutive year.
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