Journal of Business Behavioral Sciences

Vol. 27, No. 1; Spring 2015

THE VALUE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION: A

CASE STUDY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
GRADUATES OF A LARGE UNIVERSITY
Ronald P. Uhlig
Kamlesh Mehta
Susan Silverstone
Farhang Mossavar-Rahmani
National University

ABSTRACT

The focus of this paper is direct dollar value to the individual graduate of
an investment in a National University business administration degree. To assess
this value, recent data from the US census bureau is combined in a Net Present
Value (NPV) analysis with results of a survey of graduates of Business school
graduates of a large university to estimate the Net Present Value of their
investment. Consistent with findings in other countries, e.g., Australia, the study
finds that the cost benefit analysis approach used in this paper reveals that in the
USA, the unemployment among those with only a high school degree is typically
double the unemployment for those with only a college degree.

Key words: Dollar value of MBA degree, net present value approach,
unemployment rate

INTRODUCTION

In an article Karen Kucher (2013) makes the following statements, “Amid

the debate about college costs and the value of a university degree, in May 2013,
7.4% of high school graduates were unemployed, while just 3.8% of university
graduates were without a job, according to seasonally adjusted data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov). That trend — of almost double the
unemployment rate for high school grads compared with college grads — has
largely held steady even amid the U.S. recession. Those with no high school
degree were the worst off, with an unemployment rate of 11.1%.”

The Education Report (2013) examines the value of college in both

financial and nonfinancial terms. The goal is to “call attention to ways in which
both individuals and society as a whole benefit from increased levels of education.
The authors continue “higher education isn’t a guaranteed ticket to higher
earnings” and they state “that in most cases it does pay to attend college, and to
make conclusions about the value of education are much more complicated than
they seem”.

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