Foster #1 of MBAs with highest return for grads earning $100,000+

U.S. News & World Report ranked the Foster School of Business #1 of the top 10 schools that deliver the best salary-to-debt ratio, where graduates earn at least $100,000 on average. Of those top 10 schools, Foster alumni had the highest salary and bonus ($157,050) and the second-lowest average debt ($28,968) for a rate of return of 5.4.

MBAs with highest return

As the cost of top MBA programs and debt levels continue to climb, U.S. News recognized schools that deliver an outstanding value to MBA graduates. School profiles show that average debt exceeded $100,000 in several MBA programs and among top-25 schools, the median amount was $98,470. In contrast, Foster graduates carried an average debt load of only $28,968 and benefited from some of the most affordable tuition rates at a top school – $50,046 for out-of-state residents and only $34,323 annually for Washington residents. According to U.S. News, MBA grads from the following business schools earn at least a 240 percent average return.

School & U.S. News Rank	Salary & bonus/ avg. debt ratio	Average salary and bonus	Average debt	Out-of-state tuition & fees	Employed 3 months after graduation
University of Washington (Foster) – #21	5.4	$157,050	$28,968	$50,046	99.1%
University of Wisconsin, Madison – #35	4.6	$119,645	$25,737	$38,777	90.1%
Arizona State (Carey) – #33	3.9	$117,272	$30,217	$47,198	87.3%
University of Florida (Warrington) – #25	3.4	$124,245	$37,035	$30,130	95.7%
Pennsylvania State (Smeal) – #33	3.2	$126,406	$40,122	$42,468	91.5%
University of Rochester (Simon) – #40	3.1	$128,543	$40,864	$46,000	93.4%
University of Georgia (Terry) – #37	3.0	$109,785	$36,603	$32,112	90.2%
N. Carolina State (Poole) – #85	2.9	$105,340	$36,288	$40,015	90.3%
University of Arizona (Eller) – #52	2.8	$105,673	$37,436	$32,065	80.8%
Michigan State (Broad) – #38	2.4	$125,320	$51,988	$50,440	86.7%

Source: U.S. News & World Report

Highest value-added ratio

Poets & Quants analysis found the Foster School has the best value added ratio of graduating salary to out-of-state tuition (2.52) of its top 25-ranked schools. And The Financial Times recently ranked the Foster MBA as #5 in the U.S. in value for money in its Top MBAs for Women ranking.

#1 for job placement of top tier schools

Among MBA programs that offer reasonable tuition and low debt, Foster MBA graduates had outstanding career opportunities: 99.1% job placement rates at 3 months after graduation and an average salary and bonus of $157,050, on par with graduates from #6-ranked University of California, Berkeley (Haas).

The Foster School is one of the most affordable schools in U.S. News’ ranking of the top 25 MBA programs. “As a business school in a leading public university, we believe offering a first-class graduate business education while still keeping the tuition at a reasonable level is part of our public mission,” explained Dan Poston, assistant dean for master’s programs. “We know that graduating from an MBA program with a large debt often limits post-MBA career options. High debt can preclude a graduate from pursuing intriguing opportunities in entrepreneurial ventures or in smaller enterprises trying to launch new technologies. Our region’s economic growth benefits from channeling more great talent into these types of ventures rather than creating a barrier to such options.”

A tool to compare MBA programs’ career, academic, and financial results

To help MBA applicants evaluate schools strengths on a range of program quality metrics, the Foster School created the free MBA Rankings Calculator with licensed data from U.S. News, Businessweek, The Financial Times and Forbes. Applicants can create their own MBA ranking by weighing up to ten metrics that matter most to them, including career results, reputation, low average debt, faculty research, and ROI.

Financial Times ranks Foster #1 in U.S. for MBA jobs, #7 in world for research

Businessweek ranks Foster #16 of Best Business Schools in the U.S.

Tech industry’s favorite B-School for MBA recruitment: Foster

Epic Climb: charting Foster’s astonishing rise in the rankings