MBA scholarship statistics vary widely by school, program format, and definition of aid. Recent disclosures range from 20%–25% of admitted NYU Stern two-year MBA students receiving merit scholarships to 100% of the recent UT Dallas full-time MBA cohort receiving merit-based funding. Award sizes also range from $10,000 grants to full tuition and stipends.
Table of contents
- How many MBA students receive scholarships
- Typical MBA scholarship amounts
- Need-based and merit-based aid
- Scholarship rates by MBA format
- Program size and financial assistance
- How MBA scholarship funding has changed
How many MBA students receive scholarships
Named business schools report very different scholarship participation rates. Harvard Business School says approximately 50% of its MBA students receive need-based scholarships, while 10% of the MBA student body receives full-tuition scholarships. These figures come from Harvard’s current disclosure, accessed in 2026, and the school reports an average need-based award of $100,000 over two years. Harvard Business School, Financial Aid | MBA
Yale School of Management reports that 66% of MBA students receive scholarships in the Class of 2027. Its median scholarship award for that class is $65,000. Yale School of Management, Affording Your MBA
Texas McCombs reports that 88% of admitted full-time MBA students in the Class of 2027 received scholarship offers. Among admitted students who received scholarships, the average award was $19,080 per year. Texas McCombs, Funding Your Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA: Investment & Impact
Other current school disclosures show the breadth of outcomes:
| Business school or program | Reported scholarship participation | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| UT Dallas full-time MBA | 100% of admitted cohort | 2025 funding profile / 2026 cohort projection |
| Texas McCombs full-time MBA | 88% of admitted students | Class of 2027 admissions cycle |
| University of Oregon MBA | More than 75% of students | 2026–2027 disclosure |
| Yale SOM MBA | 66% of students | Class of 2027 |
| Harvard Business School MBA | Approximately 50% need-based | Current disclosure, accessed 2026 |
| INSEAD MBA | 38% of the 2026 classes | 2026 classes |
| NYU Stern two-year MBA | About 20%–25% merit-based | Current disclosure |
UT Dallas’s 100% figure is a merit-based scholarship statistic for an admitted cohort and is projected from its 2025 funding profile for the 2026 cohort. It should not be treated as equivalent to Harvard’s need-based student-body measure. The University of Oregon reports more than 75% of students receive a scholarship, while its Inclusive Excellence Scholarship provides a $10,000 award to selected students. University of Oregon, Oregon MBA UT Dallas, Full-Time MBA Information
INSEAD reports that 38% of its 2026 MBA classes received a scholarship. NYU Stern reports that about 20%–25% of admitted full-time two-year MBA students receive a merit-based scholarship. INSEAD, FAQs - MBA Programme NYU Stern, Scholarships
Typical MBA scholarship amounts
Scholarship participation does not reveal how much tuition a grant covers. At Harvard, the majority of MBA scholarships fall between $30,000 and $70,000, while the average need-based scholarship is $100,000 over two years. Yale’s Class of 2027 has a median award of $65,000. These measures use different summaries—range, average, and median—so they are not interchangeable.
Several schools publish more specific award ranges. Columbia Business School says qualifying need-based MBA scholarships generally range from $10,000 to $30,000, with an average of approximately $20,000. Dartmouth Tuck reports awards from $10,000 per year to full tuition and an average scholarship of about $34,000 per academic year. Columbia Business School, MBA Scholarships Dartmouth Tuck, Financing Your MBA
International MBA programs report awards in euros. HEC Paris reports an average MBA scholarship award of €25,000 for the scholarship described on its funding page. INSEAD reports an average scholarship award of €24,000 for its 2026 MBA classes. HEC Paris, Scholarships INSEAD, FAQs - MBA Programme
Texas McCombs reports an average annual award of $19,080 among admitted full-time MBA students who received scholarships. Its continuing-student scholarships typically range from $1,000 to $5,000 for the second year, illustrating how initial awards and later-year assistance can differ. Texas McCombs, Funding Your Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA: Investment & Impact
UT Dallas divides its full-time MBA funding awards into tiers. Forty-one percent are in the $10,000–$20,000 tier, 52% are in the $21,000–$35,000 tier, and 7% are above $35,000, including full tuition and stipends. These percentages describe funding awards in the school’s 2025 profile and 2026 cohort projection, not a universal distribution of MBA scholarships. UT Dallas, Full-Time MBA Information
For Executive MBA students, UVA Darden says merit scholarships typically range from $10,000 to $35,000 total per student, with most awards usually between $15,000 and $20,000 total. UVA Darden, EMBA - Admissions FAQ
Need-based and merit-based aid
The source and selection method matter when comparing MBA scholarship rates. Harvard’s approximately 50% measure concerns need-based scholarships, and 10% of its MBA student body receives full tuition. Columbia says about 50% of applicants who apply for its need-based MBA scholarship receive one. The Columbia percentage is an applicant-outcome measure, not the share of the entire MBA class receiving aid. Harvard Business School, Financial Aid | MBA Columbia Business School, MBA Scholarships
Merit aid can produce a different pattern. NYU Stern reports a 20%–25% merit-scholarship rate among admitted full-time two-year MBA students. Texas McCombs reports scholarship offers to 88% of admitted full-time students in the Class of 2027, and UT Dallas reports merit-based scholarships for 100% of its admitted full-time MBA cohort in its recent funding profile. Those rates apply to admitted cohorts rather than all enrolled students.
INSEAD’s recipient survey also indicates that scholarships can affect enrollment decisions. In a survey of MBA Class of 2023 scholarship recipients, 50% of respondents said they could not have considered INSEAD without the scholarship. This is a response from scholarship recipients, not an estimate of all applicants. INSEAD, How you can support
GMAC reported that 65% of students in U.S. full-time two-year MBA programs received some level of merit aid. The corresponding figures were 39% for European one-year MBA programs and 20% for Asia-Pacific full-time two-year MBA programs. GMAC presented these as survey figures cited in a 2019 article, with the underlying Application Trends Survey period retained here; they are older observations, not current 2026 estimates. GMAC, 2017 Application Trends Report - Web Version
Scholarship rates by MBA format
GMAC’s incoming class of 2017 data shows that financial assistance from the business program was more common in full-time formats than in several flexible or part-time formats. The figures cover financial assistance broadly, so they should not be read as scholarship-only rates.
| MBA format | Students receiving program financial assistance |
|---|---|
| Full-time two-year MBA | 45% |
| Full-time one-year MBA | 45% |
| Executive MBA | 22% |
| Part-time lockstep MBA | 22% |
| Part-time self-paced MBA | 21% |
| Flexible MBA | 18% |
| Online MBA | 13% |
The same GMAC report says 33% of the incoming 2017 graduate business-school class would receive some form of financial assistance from the business program, while one in five students was expected to receive a merit scholarship. Because the report distinguishes financial assistance from merit scholarships, the two figures measure different slices of support. GMAC, 2017 Application Trends Report - Web Version
Program size and financial assistance
Program size was also associated with different assistance rates in GMAC’s incoming class of 2017 data. Programs with 50 or fewer students reported that 46% of students received some form of financial assistance. The rate was 38% at programs with 51–100 students, 30% at programs with 101–200 students, and 27% at programs with 201 or more students.
These figures describe the share receiving assistance from the business program, not the dollar value of awards or the proportion receiving scholarships specifically. They also describe an older incoming class, so they provide historical context rather than a current forecast. GMAC, 2017 Application Trends Report - Web Version
Dartmouth Tuck’s current disclosure illustrates why a broad aid rate needs context. About 86% of Tuck students receive some form of financial aid, including scholarships, fellowships, or loans. Students’ own resources—savings, family support, or employer sponsorship—cover about 50% of total MBA costs on average. Tuck’s 86% figure therefore includes loans and is not directly comparable with a scholarship-recipient rate. Dartmouth Tuck, Financing Your MBA
How MBA scholarship funding has changed
INSEAD provides a dated view of scholarship growth. Its scholarship budget increased from €2.9 million in 2013 to €6.4 million in 2023. Over the same period, the share of INSEAD students receiving scholarships increased from 22% to 36%, and the average scholarship award increased from €13,100 to €21,100. These are reported historical figures for 2013 and 2023, not independently verified current values. INSEAD, How you can support
Berkeley Haas also published historical scholarship figures. In a 2014 announcement about the entering Class of 2016, it reported that scholarships were awarded to half of the entering full-time MBA class. Awards ranged from $10,000 to $110,000 over two years, with an average award of $26,000. Women made up 41% of scholarship recipients and 43% of the entering full-time MBA class. The school said it would provide nearly $6 million to students across all three MBA programs in 2014. GMAC, 2017 Application Trends Report - Web Version
In Berkeley Haas’s 2015–2016 annual report, full-time MBA scholarship and fellowship aid was allocated 36% to diversity, 32% to financial need, 18% to industry focus, 12% to leadership promise, and 2% to specialized awards. These category shares describe scholarship and fellowship aid together and belong to that historical reporting period.
For applicant planning, GMAC reported that prospective candidates expected grants, fellowships, and scholarships to cover about 30% of their business-school degree costs on average in a 2020 survey of candidates planning to enroll in 2021. That is an expectation, not a measured award rate or forecast of actual funding. GMAC, These B-School Scholarships Can Reduce Your Degree Costs