Entrepreneurial Education by the Numbers

At any point in time, but especially in the current economic climate, as we try to squeeze every ounce of value out of every dollar, parents and students must carefully weigh the costs and benefits of college degrees.

So we wonder—when searching for a top-notch entrepreneurial education, does high tuition translate into a more valuable degree?

Not necessarily, as it turns out.

On Tuesday, Princeton Review released its annual rankings of the top undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs, and at the top of both lists, tuition was far from uniform. In fact, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the price disparity between the most expensive and least expensive schools in the top ten is more than $30,000—per year.

For instance, undergraduate students who pay $3,079 each year—the lowest of any school in the top 25—at the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Entrepreneurship (No. 10) and those who pay $8,364 in the University of Arizona’s McGuire Entrepreneurship Program (No. 8) leave school with, according the survey, similarly valued degrees as those from Northeastern University’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation program (No. 9).

The difference: The latter paid $37,840 annually (more for one year than the other schools’ students paid for all four). So while the survey show the quality of the education is somewhat indistinguishable, the gap in price is easy to measure—to the tune of an extra $140,000 for four years at Northeastern.

The disparity is similar among the crème de la crème of undergraduate programs, with tuition at the University of Houston (No. 1) running $15,570—roughly $25,000 less than the price of a year at No. 2 Babson College ($40,400 per year).

Babson takes top honors in the graduate level rankings, but would you rather pay $54,450 for the best entrepreneurial program or $20,560 for second-best at Brigham Young University? Do you believe the gap in quality is worth the additional $33,000 plus to attend Babson?

Then there's the University of Missouri-Kansas City (No. 21), which has the least expensive graduate program in the top 25. The school's $14,256 tuition is less than half the price of 17 of the 20 schools ahead of it in the rankings—so their students still get a terrific education at a fraction of the price.

Bottom line: You don’t have to bury yourself in debt or hand over an arm and a leg to receive a top-of-the-line entrepreneurial education.

With that said, surely some young entrepreneurs will seek the very best programs regardless of the price tag, and there are factors to consider besides the number of zeros on the end of the bill.

But with money this tight and the job market this daunting, we offer the following list of the top ten undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurial programs, as selected by Princeton Review and published in association with Entrepreneur magazine, but ranked by that one critical piece of information: cost.

Note: The number in parentheses indicates the program’s ranking by the Princeton Review.

Undergraduate Programs

1. University of Oklahoma (10): $3,079
2. University of Arizona (8): $8,364
3. Brigham Young University (7): $8,840
4. University of Houston (1): $15,570
5. Baylor University (3): $28,720
6. Syracuse University (4): $36,300
7. Northeastern University (9): $37,840
8. Babson College (2): $40,400
9. Washington University (6): $40,950
10. University of Southern California (5): $42,162

Graduate Programs

1. Brigham Young University (2): $20,560
2. University of Arizona (7): $30,776
3. Rice University (9): $42,000
4. Washington University (6): $44,300
5. University of Southern California (10): $44,917
6. University of Texas at Austin (8): $45,128
7. University of Michigan (5): $45,250
8. University of Virginia (3): $46,500
9. University of Chicago (4): $50,900
10. Babson College (1): $54,450

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J.D. Harrison is an assistant editor at Portfolio.com.