MBA fee 2017-19 Analysis: 5 points to negotiate the high MBA fee and reduce the financial burden

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
March 20, 2017
MBA fee structure has many components apart from only the tuition fee and with your lodging & fooding, foreign travel, placement, alumni charges, it gets doubled
An MBA aspirant can negotiate the fee and get substantial concessions that can reduce the financial burden of doing MBA

During the 2 years of MBA/PGDM programme a student has to shell out Rs. 7 to 15 lakhs to complete the MBA/PGDM from a good MBA college which does not fall into the category of top IIMs.

It is a fact that MBA fee structure has many components apart from only the tuition fee and with your lodging & fooding, foreign travel, placement, alumni charges, it gets doubled. Fee for MBA remains high and for a candidate coming from a middle class background it is not easy to pay the MBA fee without feeling hardship.

There are hundreds of MBA colleges who can offer you admission on your moderate CAT; XAT; CMAT or MAT scores. Number of MBA colleges in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bhubaneswar would also offer admission on the basis of May MAT 2017 exam scores. However, you should analyse their fee structure before applying for admission and should be aware how you can further negotiate the fee to reduce your financial burden.

MBA course fee: Understand the components
Usually we think about the tuition fee when it comes to do MBA from a B-school. In fact, tuition fee is only one part of the total fee payment. If you calculate the total fee of your MBA programme, it would have many other components in addition to tuition fee only. Understand with simple example-

Tuition fee 1st year for 3 terms

Rs.525000

Tuition fee 2nd year for next 3 terms

Rs.525000

Library deposit

Rs.    2500

Mess deposit

Rs.    4000

Computer deposit

Rs.    6000

Placement charges

Rs.  19500

Alumni charges

Rs.    6000

Utility deposit

Rs.    8000

Mess charges

Rs.  60000

International tour

Rs. 125000 to Rs.250000

Going by the above, it can be understood that while total tuition fee for all the 6 terms in 2 years is Rs. 10.50 lakhs, the other fee components go beyond Rs. 2 to 3.5 lakhs and that too is without your study material, laptop, clothing etc. In fact, for a tuition fee of Rs. 10.50 lakhs at an MBA college, you need around Rs.15 lakhs to sustain yourself during 2 years.

Now the problem is that you need to do the MBA for your bright career and at the same time want to reduce the burden of MBA course fee also.  Here comes the role of fee negotiation

How you can negotiate the MBA fee?
An MBA aspirant can negotiate the fee and get substantial concessions that can reduce the financial burden of doing MBA.  Fee concessions could be in the nature of full or partial fee waiver, scholarship, discounts offered or not opting for international tours among other parameters.

If you negotiate before depositing the fee, you may reduce the fee burden to a large extent.

Negotiate in time: Keep your MBA options open
Before arriving at the decision and immediately after receiving the fee demand notice from the B-school, it is advisable to approach the designated MBA college well in time so that your option to submitting your application to other B-schools remains open.

Discuss various options with the admission team of the B-schools how you can reduce your financial burden. If the B-school is highly ranked it may not offer direct fee concession or something but may have certain welfare funds to meet the situation or may offer some opportunity to earn while you learn. B-schools do not mind fee negotiation in most cases and on certain points may accept your demand for fee reduction.

Weigh pros & cons: Don’t be in a hurry
The MBA fee negotiation can take place better before you make any payment to the B-school, else you will be the loser once you have paid the fee.

Registration and submission of application to the B-school will finally result either in the offer of admission or rejection of the application. The fear of rejection, if the fee is not paid by the mentioned deadline to the B-school, drives the applicant to hurry up and make payment of requisite fee demanded by the B-school. Later on candidates find it difficult to negotiate on high fee structure of the MBA programme even if they come to know that many of their peers negotiated hard on their fee and got the concessions.

Check for the Fee waiver facility
Many B-schools offer full or partial fee waiver to high performers in entrance exam like CAT/XAT/CMAT/MAT. The fee waiver is also available to the candidates with excellent academic profile; to candidates with weaker economic and social back grounds among others.

The MBA fee waiver parameters are not very rigid, hence you can negotiate on it. Once it is approved in principle, you may get fee waiver in the range of 10% to 50% and in some exceptional cases upto 80%. Even if you get 10% fee waiver, out of the prevalent tuition fee in the range of Rs.7 lakhs to 15 lakhs for full MBA programme, relief of Rs.70000/- to 150000/- will substantially reduce your financial burden. The major advantage of fee waiver is that you get it before depositing the fee to the B-school. Hence the issue of getting the fee reimbursed or claiming the fee refund later wouldn’t haunt your mind.

Fee discount? May be available
Another name of fee waiver is fee discount. However, discount covers more candidates but its nature is different. Since the fee is decided by the private B-school on its own in the specified range clubbing number of charges, expenses, remuneration etc. it may be pegged high by the B-school and later on is reduced a little by offering the discount.

If you are able to negotiate a bit more, you may get even higher discount than offered at the first instance. You may ask the B-school to waive certain charges imposed in the name of fee or have similar nature. The B-school may gladly oblige you and may offer you the said discount.

Foreign study tour: Check if really needed
Many B-schools have started foreign study tour to various foreign institutes or have engaged in international exchange programme. While some of them mention fee with or without foreign tour or international exchange, many are gradually clubbing it to the fee structure. The fee for foreign tour or international exchange programme runs in lakhs. You can categorically ask the B-school what difference it would make if you do not want to have the foreign tour. Initially, it is possible that the B-school may not agree, but rest assured it can reduce the entire fee required for foreign tour, if you do not propose to avail the facility. 

In the upcoming MBA scenario, the B-schools have kept their admission process flexible with number of fee concessions available to compete and grow in MBA education market. Once you try and negotiate, you may get more pleasant surprises in your favour than you expected.

Claim your Scholarship
Almost every B-school offers scholarships instituted either by itself, its alumni, its promoter in the name of some eminent person to the meritorious students. The scholarships are also offered to the students who have scored high in the entrance exams, in academics or who have excelled in sports also. The B-school may add as many scholarships as it deems fit according to the category of students.

Before finalizing the admission in the B-school, you can check whether you nearly qualify for the scholarship, what is its amount. Not only this, it is better to approach the B-school and specifically ask them whether you can be offered the said scholarship for which you are eligible and what is the number of such scholarships that would be offered to the students.

If you get the scholarship, you can reduce your financial burden by about 10% or more of the fee. Since the scholarship is not directly linked to fee waiver, it would be available to you on the basis of your performance and will be of a reimbursing nature – paid after performance.

MBA colleges having moderate fee structure

Bangalore
- T. A. PAI Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal
- Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore
- IFIM Business School, Bangalore 
- SDMIMD, Mysore
- AIMS Institutes, Bangalore
- M S Ramaiah Institute of Management, Bangalore
- Indus Business Academy, Bangalore
- Acharya Bangalore B School, Bangalore
- Kristu Jayanti College Autonomous
- Amrita School of Business, Bangalore
- Adarsh Institute of Management and Information Technology (AIMIT), Bangalore
- Koshys Business School, Bangalore

Delhi NCR
BIMTECH, Greater Noida
FORE School of Management, New Delhi
LBSIM, Delhi
Accurate Institute of Management & Technology, Greater Noida
BML Munjal University, Gurgaon
BULMIM, New Delhi
College of Management & Economics Studies (CoMES) UPES Dehradun
G L Bajaj Institute of Management & Research, Greater Noida
EMPI Business School, New Delhi
College of Business Management, Economics & Commerce, Mody University Laxmangargh (Near Jaipur)
Fortune Institute of International Business (FIIB), New Delhi
IMS Ghaziabad
Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipuria Group, Noida
Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIMS),  Rohini, New Delhi
NDIM, New Delhi

Apart from these MBA colleges, the MBA fee concession can also be explored in MBA colleges in Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and other cities.

Please note these are the private B-schools and universities mostly who may offer such concessions to reduce the Fee burden for PGDM or MBA. This concessionary facility may not be available at IIMs, or other Government regulated Universities offering MBA programmes.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on MBA Fee 2017