Illinois Gies College of Business

Gies made the era’s boldest business-school decision: it closed a ranked residential MBA to concentrate on the iMBA, a Coursera-delivered degree priced near $24,000 that now enrolls thousands per cohort. The gamble reset the industry’s pricing conversation — Boston University’s $24K online degree followed the trail Gies blazed — and employer acceptance keeps climbing with the enrollment. This is the spreadsheet-rational MBA: same accredited degree family, one-fifth the invoice, zero campus romance.