When Victoria Gambardella isn”™t working on consumer research assignments for Unilever, she is busily finishing up her homework, rushing to get to school and dodging shaggy-haired undergraduates to get to class on time.
Last September, Gambardella enrolled in New York University”™s Langone Master of Business Administration Program for Working Professionals, which is administered at the SUNY Purchase campus. Gambardella has kept a full-time job while taking businesses courses in leadership and organization, statistics, firms and markets, accounting and marketing while employed full-time at her company.
Twice a week, she leaves work in Bergen County, N.J., drives 40 minutes to class in Westchester and then finally heads home to Rockland County.
Lack of sleep is among the obvious negatives of working while pursuing a postgraduate degree. There are also advantages, Gambardella said.
“I”™m more comfortable presenting in front of my company because I do that in class,” she said, “and it”™s just a good refresher from a business standpoint to apply my learning in real time instead of stopping to learn and going back to the workforce again.”
On the weekends, Gambardella doesn”™t have time for a social life because she said she still has to complete a number of projects and papers. Balancing work and school life isn”™t easy, but Gambardella believes an MBA degree will give her more leverage in the job market, especially as she further pursues a career in marketing.
“It”™s a challenge because there”™s a lot going on both at work and school, but it”™s manageable and helps you build stronger skills and better time management,” Gambardella said. “My employers sponsor and support me. I usually openly communicate with my manager and director about school, and they understand when I have to leave 10 minutes early to get to class.”
During the recession, pursuing a business master”™s became an enticing prospect and grad school became a haven of sorts for post-grads entering a job market with little-to-no opportunities. But as the economy rebounds, fewer people are enrolling full-time in MBA programs than during the recession, though many working professionals continue to study business in order to gain an edge over others in their industry of choice.
About 200 part-time students enrolled at Langone”™s Westchester during the recession, and that number decreased to around 120 students this past year, said Isser Gallogly, assistant dean of MBA admissions at NYU”™s Stern School of Business. Still, the decline in full-time MBA enrollment is greater than the part-time.
“MBA enrollment varies with economic cycles,” Gallogly said. “The economy has been softer over the last few years, so we”™ve seen a bit of a decline in applications since pre-2008. When unemployment initially goes up for full-time workers, people are displaced from the workforce, so more go back to school. If the economy is flat, people tend to hold onto their job, but many are still willing to partake in part-time programs.”
Although steady jobs lower the probability of full-time enrollment in MBA programs, more working professionals are interested in pursuing part-time graduate degrees in business than before. When NYU Stern”™s Langone MBA Program for Working Professionals first opened in 2006, the idea was to attract working professionals who want to pursue a part-time MBA program while holding onto a steady full-time job.
Many full-time MBA students in accounting often jump right into their master”™s degree programs before finding employment. For those interested in an accounting career, earning an MBA degree before selling themselves to companies is a strategic move, said Vin Calluzzo, dean of Iona College”™s Hagan School of Business. Often, companies that hire workers without an MBA will ask their future employees to complete this program within a year or two before hiring them full-time. But because of the decreasing amount of company sponsorships to alleviate tuition expenses, fewer workers enroll full time.
“The real drag is fewer companies are providing tuition reimbursement for master”™s programs,” Calluzzo said. “Those companies that do provide reimbursements have been limiting themselves to meet the federal guidelines. The guidelines say employers can sponsor up to $5,500 a year without getting an income tax. But beyond $5,000 the tuition reimbursement is taxable.”
Calluzzo added that the average cost of tuition to enroll in the MBA program at Iona College is $44,000 to $45,000 for 15 courses. Iona”™s MBA program has expanded to provide 11 advanced certificates and eight new concentrations for students over the past eight years, and most graduates enter the finance or health care profession or work for major accounting firms. The full-time tuition at NYU Stern”™s Business School starts at a flat rate of about $61,000 and increases each year. Part timers must earn 60 credits, and each credit costs around $1,800.
Langone, NYU Stern”™s satellite program on the SUNY Purchase campus, leases three classrooms, several meeting spaces and offices for faculty members. The most common profile of students pursuing a part-time MBA is someone who wants to know more about the business world and make an impact within their company so they can either move up or start their own business in Westchester or elsewhere.
“We feel like there”™s a nice market of talented individuals in Westchester,” Gallogly said.
“The program is not going to be as big as in the city, but we felt a sufficient number of people are the caliber of students we”™re looking for. These students can take the challenges on the job and bring them into the classroom to get new ideas on how to manage their work and be more impactful in their career. Plus, these students have access to over 100,000 alumni in our network. A lot of the success in businesses has to do with networking, and people here meet colleagues who can help them with their businesses and careers.”
