Seoul, KR · 24 months
KAIST MBA: cost, salary and payback
One of the least expensive MBAs on this site, $28,503 in tuition for two years, with almost nothing published about where graduates go.
Paid back after graduation in
salary not published
Total cost $225,009
| Tuition and fees, whole program | $28,503 |
| Living budget | $16,506 |
| Salary given up, 24 months | $180,000 |
| Total cost | $225,009 |
| Salary after: salary | not published |
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: latest report · Built by Radif Partners · Method
- Tuition and fees
- ₩38,236,000
- Total cost, salary given up included
- n/a
- Salary
- not published
- Payback, reference person
- not computable
The KAIST full-time MBA in Seoul is priced here from the university's cost table for international graduate students, which gives ₩19,118,000 of tuition a year for the 2023 academic year, or ₩38,236,000 for the two years of the program, about $28,503. The same table budgets ₩11,070,787 a year for on-campus housing, meals, books, health insurance, travel and phone, which we count twice for ₩22,141,574, for ₩60,377,574 in all. Neither figure is specific to the MBA, and both are dated. KAIST publishes no employment report, no graduate salary and no class profile for this program on the pages we read. So this page cannot show a total cost for a person earning $90,000 or a payback date, and our ranking cannot place the school. The program, launched in 2023, centres on a business analytics track, and KAIST runs other full-time MBAs in impact and finance that are not covered here.
A price taken from a university table
At $28,503 for two years, KAIST's tuition is number 4 from the bottom of the 73 schools on this site that publish a fee. The figure deserves caution. It comes from KAIST's general cost of attendance for international graduate students, which covers research and professional programs alike and is labelled with the 2023 academic year. We found no MBA-specific fee page. An applicant should ask the admissions office for the current MBA tuition before relying on it, and enter that figure in the calculator.
The living budget has the same limits. It lists on-campus housing, meals, books, the national health insurance premium, the student health association fee, local travel and telecommunication, and assumes a single student in university housing. Renting privately in Seoul costs more, and the table's age means prices have likely moved since. Because the budget is in won, its value in your currency follows the exchange rate.
A fee or a salary in US dollars
In US dollars
$111,880
| 1 EUR | $1.119 |
ECB reference rate of October 13, 2026. Prices on the ground do not follow exchange rates one for one.
Scholarships, and what is missing
KAIST's MBA scholarship page describes full or partial tuition waivers for international applicants over the two years, with a monthly living stipend for selected students and a minimum grade average to keep the award. It does not publish the number of recipients or the average award. A figure of almost universal aid that appears on the university's admissions pages concerns international graduate students as a whole, not the MBA, and we do not apply it here.
There is no employment report on the English site: no salary, no sectors, no destinations, no employers, and no class profile with age, experience or the share of women. Without them, the page cannot say what the degree leads to. SKK GSB, the other Seoul school on this site, charges ₩53,000,000 for an 18-month program; the Asia ranking lists the schools in the region that publish placements. To test KAIST anyway, type in the calculator the salary you expect after the degree and the one you would give up.
The salary you give up while you study
Salary given up, net of the internship
$157,500
| Gross salary not earned | $157,500 |
| Per month away | $7,500 |
Pension contributions and raises you would have had are not counted here.
Where KAIST stands in our rankings
Not ranked: KAIST does not publish a graduate salary or the split of the class by industry, which our ranking needs. Its cost is complete above.
Our fit score, reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA (method). Third-party rankings play no part in it.
What the KAIST MBA costs
| Item | KRW, and US dollars |
|---|---|
| Tuition, whole program | ₩38,236,000 $28,503 |
| Living budget, whole program | ₩22,141,574 $16,506 |
Not published by KAIST in the documents we read: a graduate salary; the split of the class by industry; where graduates went to work; the split by job function. We leave these blank rather than fill them with an estimate.