Tempe, Arizona, US · 21 months · class of 45
ASU Carey MBA: cost, salary and payback
A list price of $130,000 that almost nobody in the class pays in full, and an average base salary of $121,116 for the class of 2025.
Paid back after graduation in
8.6 years
Total cost $350,452 · 10-year NPV -$109,712
| Tuition and fees, whole program | $130,000 |
| Living budget | $62,952 |
| Salary given up, 21 months | $157,500 |
| Total cost | $350,452 |
| Salary after: average base salary | $121,116 |
| 10-year net present value | -$109,712 |
| Return on the cost (present values) | -32% |
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.
Fees and budget read on October 13, 2026 · employment: Class of 2025 (school standard) · Built by Radif Partners · Method
- Tuition and fees
- $130,000
- Total cost, salary given up included
- $350,452
- average base salary
- $121,116
- Payback, reference person
- 8.6 years
The full-time MBA at Arizona State's W. P. Carey School lists $130,000 as its estimated tuition and fees for an international student over two years, and the university's graduate budget adds $62,952 to live in Tempe, for $192,952. For a person earning $90,000 today, the 21 months away add $157,500 of salary given up, and the total reaches $350,452. The class of 2025 reported an average base salary of $121,116, which repays that total 8.6 years after graduation, and the ten-year net present value is -$109,712. Those are list-price results. What makes ASU Carey unusual is that the school says nearly every full-time candidate receives scholarship funding and many get full tuition covered, so for most students the real payback is much shorter than the one above.
The list price and the price students pay
The published price at ASU Carey is mostly a ceiling: by its own account, almost all full-time candidates receive a scholarship, many of them covering the whole of tuition, and the school publishes no average award. The $130,000 on this page is the international rate for tuition and fees combined; Arizona residents and other US students are quoted lower figures. Because the scholarship is the biggest unknown in the cost, the mini below lets you enter the award in your offer letter and see how much the payback moves.
ASU Carey: what a scholarship changes
Payback with the scholarship
8.1 years
| Without it | 8.6 years |
| Total cost with it | $320,452 |
Reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA.
A small class and a thin employment page
The entering class has 45 students, the smallest of the American full-time programs on this site, with 33% international students and an average of 6.2 years of work experience. The career page gives the average base salary, the share that accepted an offer within three months (90%) and average salaries by US region, but no split of the class by industry or job function, no median and no signing bonus. That is why ASU Carey sits only in our overall ranking, at number 21 of 40, and not in the consulting, finance or tech lists.
An average can sit above or below a median depending on a few very high or very low offers, and with a class this size a handful of graduates decide it. The named employers range from consulting firms to aerospace, semiconductor and consumer goods companies, spread across the Southwest, the West Coast, the Midwest and the Northeast, which suggests a class that does not all head for one city.
ASU Carey: when the MBA pays back, for your salary
Payback after graduation
8.6 years
| Total cost with the salary given up | $350,452 |
| Salary after (average base salary) | $121,116 |
| 10-year NPV | -$109,712 |
Same assumptions as the main calculator; US dollars.
Who the payback above fits
The figure on this page is the reference case: list price, no scholarship and $90,000 of salary before the MBA. At the same price, someone earning $60,000 before the degree would repay it in 4.5 years, and someone earning $120,000 in 17.3 years, because the salary you give up grows with your pay while the average after the MBA stays the same. An Arizona resident with a large award can end up paying a fraction of the list price, and then the comparison with Texas McCombs or Georgia Tech Scheller changes completely. Run the payback calculator with your own offer before deciding.
Where ASU Carey stands in our rankings
- #21 of 40 · Any industry (whole class)
Our fit score, reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA (method). Third-party rankings play no part in it.
What the ASU Carey MBA costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tuition, whole program | $130,000 |
| Living budget, whole program | $62,952 |
| Salary given up: $90,000 a year for 21 months | $157,500 |
| Total cost, reference person | $350,452 |
ASU Carey employment report: Class of 2025
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Average base salary | $121,116 |
| Graduates who accepted an offer within three months | 90% |
Where ASU Carey graduates went to work
| Region | Share | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| US (US Midwest + US Northeast + US Southwest + US West) | n/a | not published |
Employers named by ASU Carey
Amazon · Kearney · P&G · United Airlines · BCG · KPMG · Dell · Honeywell · Northrop Grumman · Applied Materials · Microsoft · EY
Names only: the school gives no hire counts.
The ASU Carey class
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| International students | 33% |
| Women | 43% |
| Average age | 30 |
| Average years of work experience | 6.2 |
| Class size | 45 |
Not published by ASU Carey in the documents we read: the split of the class by industry; the split by job function. We leave these blank rather than fill them with an estimate.