How much should students budget for their two-year Darden MBA experience?
There was a period of time at Darden when school officials were working to bring in-state and out-of-state tuition into closer parity. Now tuition for the first and second years really rest at exactly the same amount. So for student budgets we’re looking at an in-state student budget for ’99-2000 of approximately $29,500. For out-of-state students, it’s about $35,200. That tends to rise between 3% and 5% per year, just based on the local economics and inflation. A lot has been said about the spiraling costs of an MBA education. Darden’s [out-of-state tuition] has risen from $14,227 in 1992-’93 to $21,479 for 1998-’99. Has the school’s financial-aid budget increased in line with its climbing tuition? It most certainly has. We’re giving more dollars in the way of scholarship money. The amounts and availability of loan monies in excess of the maximum $18,500 available from the government has never been fully taxed. Up to the student budget, there is full amount and availability of additio
