Saint Leo University (www.saintleo.edu), a pioneer in online learning, is offering an academic scholarship opportunity for some special students: those who are intent on starting an MBA program this summer, who have the undergraduate grades to prove they can do serious work, and the commitment and discipline to study online all the way through to degree completion.
For those who qualify and apply by April 20 for admission to the summer semester beginning on Monday, April 30, the MBA tuition per credit hour will be $555, compared to the standard tuition cost of $720. What is more, Saint Leo will hold the tuition per credit hour at $555 through the time it takes the students to graduate, provided the students maintain a consistent enrollment plan and good academic standing. The per-credit scholarship represents a savings of $6,000 throughout the course of the 36-credit hour program. Additionally, qualified scholarship recipients are eligible for a waiver of the standard $80 application fee.
Prospective online Master of Business Administration students must be ready and willing to begin their studies now to qualify for the scholarship opportunity.
The scholarship will be extended only to those applicants with the required academic background: those who attained a grade point average of 3.25 in earning their bachelor’s degrees, either during their final 60 credit hours of study or over the course of their four-year degree programs. The degree also needs to be from a regionally accredited university, as Saint Leo is. Official transcripts are required. This proof of a strong academic background helps assure Saint Leo graduate admissions officers that the scholarship money is being invested in adult learners who already have strong study skills. Admission to the MBA program itself is possible without this kind of record, but the program entrant would not qualify for consideration for a scholarship.
Qualified students will find they can choose to earn either the general Master of Business Administration degree, or choose from a diverse spectrum of 10 specializations that can give graduates an edge over other job and promotion candidates in the same field. The specialization options include supply chain management, sport business, health care administration, cybersecurity, human resource management, and more.
“The reason Saint Leo decided to offer this scholarship benefit now is that we realize there is a pool of vast, untapped business and administrative talent that can be developed through further study, but that opportunity is beyond the grasp of some talented learners,” said Dr. Jeffrey D. Senese, provost and senior vice president of Academic & Student Affairs. “Online study overcomes some barriers, such as access to classroom programs or convenient study times. By investing first in people who have done well before in school, and by giving them an incentive to get started soon and to stay engaged, Saint Leo is attracting people who have sound study skills and the desire to seize an opportunity instead of letting it pass by. We think these students will be good peers for their fellow students in online classrooms and study groups and will continue to be valuable employees in their current and future work positions.”
Senese added that he hopes some of the scholarship applicants already will be working at companies that offer some level of tuition aid or tuition reimbursement to employees for further education. “That would be ideal, because then both the student and the company are getting the benefit of the tuition break that comes with this scholarship,” Senese said.
The MBA curriculum is taught by the faculty of Saint Leo University’s Donald R. Tapia School of Business. Tapia himself went back to school through two Saint Leo online programs well after becoming an established entrepreneur in Arizona. He needed the flexibility of a quality online program to continue to have time for his business and was reassured by the fact that Saint Leo already had an educational heritage of more than 100 years at a traditional residential campus in Central Florida, where the school was first founded. Tapia earned his bachelor’s degree in 2005 and his MBA in 2007.
More recently MBA graduates also have earned their degrees while raising families, serving in the military, or holding down jobs in places across the country or around the world.
The Saint Leo online academic calendar is available here. For more information about the scholarship, go to MBA Online Scholarship Form. For additional information, email graduate.admissions@saintleo.edu or call, toll free, (800) 707-8846. Find more information about degree requirements.
About Saint Leo University
Saint Leo University (www.saintleo.edu) is a modern Catholic teaching university that is firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition and the timeless Benedictine wisdom that seeks balanced growth of mind, body, and spirit. The Saint Leo University of today is a private, nonprofit institution that creates hospitable learning communities wherever students want to be or need to be, whether that is a campus classroom, a web-based environment, an employer’s worksite, a military base, or an office park. Saint Leo welcomes people of all faiths and of no religious affiliation, and encourages learners of all generations. The university is committed to providing educational opportunities to the nation’s armed forces, veterans, and their families. Saint Leo is regionally accredited to award degrees ranging from the associate to the doctorate, and the faculty and staff guide all students to develop their capacities for critical thinking, moral reflection, and lifelong learning and leadership.
The university remains the faithful steward of the beautiful lakeside University Campus in the Tampa Bay region of Florida, where its founding monks created the first Catholic college in the state in 1889. Serving more than 13,000 students, Saint Leo has expanded to downtown Tampa, to other sites in Florida and beyond, and maintains a physical presence in seven states. The university provides highly respected online learning programs to students nationally and internationally. More than 90,000 alumni reside in all 50 states, in Washington, DC, in three U.S. territories, and in 76 countries.
