Enrollment in MSU's Executive Masters of Business Administration program has gone down over the last five years, while many of the nation's schools have seen steady enrollment, university officials said.
MSU saw a drop of almost five students per year on average in its EMBA program.
And nationwide, more than three-fourths of responding Masters of Business Administration programs reported a decline in applications, according to a recent Graduate Management Admission Council survey, although MSU's figures have remained relatively steady.
Also, 25 percent less students took the GMAT test for admission into business school than in 2002.
"Given that the number of people who've taken the GMAT is down, there is a smaller pool of students," said John Delaney, associate dean for MBA Programs with the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management.
This limited number of candidates means universities in the top 10 of national business programs can syphon away students from MSU, he said. Delaney also attributed the lowered interest to worries about the economy and the recent corporate scandals, such as Enron.
Although final enrollment numbers for the MBA programs aren't yet in, Delaney said it was clear enrollment in MSU's MBA programs is down. The projected difference between 2003 and 2004 enrollment is only five students, a minor fluctuation, which is a trend Delaney said he wanted to continue.
"We're hoping that we're going to hold this year," he said.
The economy might not be the only, or even the most important factor in the decline in MBA enrollment, said Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting Susan Haka.
"I think the MBA is becoming more of a commodity degree. There are tons of MBA degrees available now," Haka said.
"The value of the MBA as it becomes more widespread is going to decrease."
Employers want their management staff to hold MBAs to the point of barely distinguishing where the degrees come from - the difference between a University of Phoenix MBA, online MBA and a Big Ten MBA are blurring, Haka said.
The lower enrollment can be starkly visible in the classroom, she said.
"A few years ago when I taught, there were nearly 50 students in each section, now there are 30," she said.
EMBA programs at most schools are designed for working professionals, and take less time to complete than the two-year MBAs - at MSU the EMBA takes two years to complete. People can be hesitant to risk leaving their jobs for two years to return to school, Haka said.
Finance junior Jennifer Ignatius said she'd need a break in school before getting an MBA in the future. Although she said the economy was likely a factor, she thought there was a more simple answer.
"Probably, they want to go to other schools, " Ignatius said.
Luciana Zung, an MBA student at MSU, said she worries about how the economy had a much larger impact on the decision to get a business degree in graduate school than when choosing a major as an undergraduate.
Enrollment in MBA programs can hinge on the global economy just as much as the American economy, said Zung, a native of Curitiba, Brazil.
"It's pretty expensive to come to America for an MBA program," she said, adding many Brazilian students had waited until the exchange rate between the American dollar and Brazil's Reais was better.
Right now it costs 3.04 Brazilian reais to buy one American dollar.
That exchange rate can be an overriding factor, Zung said.
"I think it really affects the (choice)," she said.
