A master’s of business administration (MBA) can cost
nearly $170,000 from a prestigious institution, such as the Wharton School of
Business at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Philadelphia schoolteacher
has created a way around that.
No Pay MBA is a blog and website where users can find a collection of massive open online
courses (MOOCs) focused on an MBA-track of study organized into three
semesters. The courses are taught by some of the top business professors from
around the world and are offered by the online-learning platforms edX,
Coursera, Open2Study, and Udacity.
While the courses are free, there’s also no degree at
the end of the road. Several of the MOOC platforms do offer certificates of
completion for a small fee.
“There is a great potential for someone to create an
alternative, especially for that segment of the market which is already working
and doesn’t want to spend what business school costs, and doesn’t necessarily
need the launchpad that business schools offer because they’re already
midstream in their careers,” said Laurie Pickard, who created the website while
working as a development and entrepreneurship specialist for the U.S. Agency
for International Development in Rwanda.
