BACK TO SCHOOL:
Private MBA Programs Rise While Many Public Schools See Decline
By CHRIS CZIBORR
The economic slowdown is yielding a mixed bag for the Southland’s business schools.
Usually when the economy tanks, enrollment rises.
But this year’s Business Journal directory of MBA schools in Southern California shows that total enrollment fell 2% to 13,367. The number of MBA graduates rose 3% to 4,663. Six of the 38 schools in the directory did not give enrollment figures for this year.
Many schools saw full-time enrollment rise, which does jibe with conventional wisdom about a declining economy. But part-time enrollment,workers who attend classes at night or on the weekends,has fallen at many schools. And public schools also cited the state’s budget crunch as a factor for the overall fall in enrollment (see story, page 17).
Most of the MBA programs in the Cal State and UC systems,which rely heavily on state funds,showed lower enrollment.
The University of California, Irvine’s Graduate School of Management saw enrollment fall 5% to 760 MBA students.
Most of the drop-off hit the school’s executive and healthcare MBA programs, according to Jone Pearce, the school’s interim dean.
“Executive MBA programs match economic cycles, since people in them,many of whom are in their 40s and 50s,have to be working,” Pearce said.
A lot of companies have slashed their training budgets for staff that want to enroll in MBA programs, she said.
UCI’s full-time MBA enrollment was up while its executive enrollment fell.
Full-time enrollment gained because the programs tend to be counter-cyclical, Pearce said.
The Southland’s biggest MBA program is at privately run Pepperdine University in Malibu, where enrollment grew 11% to 2,004.
“People are trying to protect themselves in the market slowdown,they want to make sure they have the qualifications to compete for jobs,” said Linda Livingstone, dean of Pepperdine’s Graziado School of Business and Management.
Livingstone said Pepperdine bucked the down trend in part because it is privately funded.
“State budget issues have significant impacts on public schools,” she said. “Those impacts can lead to problems in funding some of the programs they want or funding faculty salaries at the level they want.”
Livingstone also said she believes private and for-profit MBA schools may have more flexibility to tailor curricula to meet market demands.
“Private schools can sometimes respond more quickly,” she said.
The school has 547 MBA students at its Irvine campus, up from 466 last year.
Pepperdine’s school was No. 17 in the U.S. News & World Report’s latest ranking of part-time MBA programs,tied with the University of California, Irvine’s Graduate School of Management.
Chapman University in Orange saw an 11% boost in MBA enrollment vs. a year ago. Chapman, with 130 students in the program this year, saw a 15% decline in graduating students to 44.
Meanwhile, Orange County’s second-largest public school MBA program behind UCI,California State University, Fullerton,posted a 2% gain in MBA enrollment to 549.
“The weaker economy has pushed up our general MBA numbers,” said Thomas Johnson, associate dean of the school’s College of Bus-iness and Econ-omics.
“More people are going back to school to sharpen their skills.”
But Johnson said that most of Cal State Fullerton’s MBA students are part-time students who work full time. He doesn’t think the weak economy has had a huge effect on the school.
“I don’t think the lowered opportunity cost of attending school in lieu of working is an issue here,” he said.
Cal State Fullerton was the only school in the Cal State system that had an enrollment gain.
California State University, Long Beach saw a 6% decline in MBA enrollment to 324 students; Cal State Los Angeles was down 8% to 233 and Cal State Northridge was off 38% to 202.
The private Keller Graduate School of Management in Irvine grew bigger.
Keller counts 150 MBA students at its Irvine campus this year, a 15% jump vs. last year.
“We expect enrollment to continue growing,” Orcutt said.
“Any kind of growth we’re getting is in part because people are in job transitions during layoffs, so they’re looking to bolster their credentials,” said Janice Orcutt, Keller’s Irvine campus director.
Orcutt said enrollment in the school’s project management MBA program was being driven by growth at the region’s aerospace and engineering companies.
“And there is increased interest in the accounting field,” she said.
The school has an accounting finance MBA that prepares students for the Certified Public Accountant test.
Just in its second year of operation in Orange, for-profit Argosy University saw enrollment jump 74% to 40 MBA students as the school ramped up its program.
Argosy officials said the school expects to have more than 100 students by next fall. Ultimately, it will have 250 MBA students.
“The downturn has made for an enrollment boom of sorts,” said Mark Rocha, president of Argosy’s Orange County operations.
“First of all you had the tech wreck,a lot of people in technology were looking for another path. And you have general demand.
“When the economy slows that’s when people look at their paths and think about going back to school.”
The University of Sarasota of California and American School of Psychology of Southern California consolidated last year and became part of Argosy.
Rocha said Argosy started a school in OC because the company had no Southland campus.
“Southern California is, of course, a major market,” he said.
Its Orange County campus is one of Argosy’s 12 national schools in nine states.
Rocha said public school MBA programs are running into enrollment issues because the state is running a big deficit.
“After the election the budget will probably get even tighter,” he said.
Public schools could see the number of available positions for applicants falling if they receive what could be 20% less in state funds.
Irvine-based Concordia University grew its MBA enrollment 50% to 60.
“We opened extra classes,” said Richard Harms, dean of Concordia’s business school.
“We won’t continue to grow 50% a year. But we are planning to get up to 80 to 100 students eventually.”
