Cost and return · figures from each school’s own report
MBA payback with a loan
Borrowing the LBS tuition at 8% over 10 years adds $80,761 of interest and stretches the payback from 8.0 years to 9.3 years.
Paid back after graduation in
8.0 years
Total cost $364,753 · 10-year NPV -$79,570
| Tuition and fees, whole program | $164,720 |
| Living budget (UK visa minimum) | $42,533 |
| Salary given up, 21 months | $157,500 |
| Total cost | $364,753 |
| Salary after: average base salary | $121,772 |
| Signing bonus × share receiving it | $45,078 |
| 10-year net present value | -$79,570 |
| Return on the cost (present values) | -22% |
US dollars at the ECB rate of the last update. Raises of 5% a year with the MBA and 3% without, discounted at 5%, before tax. How this is calculated.
Built by Radif Partners · figures checked · Method · Editorial policy
A loan does not change what an MBA costs in tuition, but it adds interest, and interest is a cost the salary gap has to repay. The calculator adds total interest to the total cost, then counts the years until the gain from the degree covers both. For London Business School, whose tuition and fees come to $164,720 at the ECB rate of October 13, 2026, borrowing that whole sum at 8% repaid over 10 years means a yearly instalment of $24,548 and $80,761 of interest. For a person earning $90,000 today, the payback after graduation goes from 8.0 years without a loan to 9.3 years with it. The instalment equals 20% of the average base salary the school reports, before tax. A shorter term costs less interest but raises the instalment: over five years, it climbs to $41,255 a year.
What the calculator adds when you borrow
The three loan fields sit under the usual ones: the amount borrowed, the interest rate and the number of years to repay. The tool computes a fixed instalment paid once a year, multiplies it by the number of years, and subtracts the amount borrowed: what remains is the interest. That interest joins tuition, fees, living costs and the salary given up in the total cost, and the payback is counted again against the same yearly gains. The amount borrowed itself is not added, because it already sits in the cost as tuition or living money.
The calculator opens on LBS, a program of up to 21 months whose London living budget is the UK student visa minimum, a floor. Its graduates report an average base salary of £91,928. Choose any other school in the first field; the loan fields stay as you set them.
What an MBA loan costs in interest
Total interest
$49,029
| Yearly instalment | $14,903 |
| Total repaid | $149,029 |
Equal yearly instalments, fixed rate: the rate is the one of your own offer.
Three loans on the same degree
To see what the rate and the term do, take the full LBS tuition and fees, $164,720, for a person earning $90,000 today. The payback without any loan is 8.0 years after graduation.
| Loan terms | Yearly instalment | Total interest | Payback after graduation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8%, 10 years | $24,548 | $80,761 | 9.3 years |
| 8%, 5 years | $41,255 | $41,556 | 8.7 years |
| 5%, 10 years | $21,332 | $48,600 | 8.8 years |
Both levers cut interest, and in this example halving the term saves more ($39,205) than three points off the rate ($32,161). The difference is in the budget: the short loan asks for $16,707 more each year, in the years when a new graduate is also paying rent in an expensive city. The interest on the base case alone is 49% of the sum borrowed.
The same loan at three schools
A loan weighs differently depending on the salary that repays it. Borrowing the tuition and fees on the same terms, 8% over 10 years:
- Wharton: $186,016 borrowed, $27,722 a year, $91,203 of interest; payback 3.9 years without the loan and 4.7 years with it, against a median base salary of $185,000.
- LBS: $24,548 a year; payback 8.0 years becomes 9.3 years.
- INSEAD: $122,911 borrowed for a 10-month program, $18,317 a year, $60,263 of interest; payback 7.6 years becomes 8.9 years.
The school with the largest tuition is not the one hurt most by borrowing. A loan lengthens the payback most where the yearly gain is thin, because each extra dollar of interest takes longer to earn back. At a school whose graduates report a salary well above yours, the same interest costs a few months; at one whose salary sits close to yours, it can cost years.
Before you sign
Check four things the calculator cannot know. Whether the rate is fixed or floating; whether repayment starts during the program or after it, since interest accrued while you study adds to the balance; the fees the lender charges on top of the rate; and the currency of the loan, because a loan in dollars repaid from a salary in pounds or euros moves with the exchange rate. Many schools list partner lenders on their financial aid page, and the scholarships page shows what can be removed from the amount to borrow in the first place.
LBS: when the MBA pays back, for your salary
Payback after graduation
8.0 years
| Total cost with the salary given up | $364,753 |
| Salary after (average base salary) | $121,772 |
| 10-year NPV | -$79,570 |
Same assumptions as the main calculator; US dollars.