The Best Online MBA Schools (AACSB) for 2010 Part Thirteen: Student/Faculty Ratio

This category is trickier than it may first appear. In face-to-face classes, the ratio of students per teacher is critical in the quality level of instruction a candidate may expect. It is less so in online classes, because the online student has greater access to the teacher when offering answers or asking questions. Also, since online classes use virtual office hours for professors or organized Q&A sessions for the class, there is no risk that a student may miss time with the instructor because someone else has already arrived first or the available time is a problem with other commitments, like work.

However, the student/faculty ratio does factor into how much attention an instructor may give an individual student’s work. Just imagine the difference between evaluating, say 75 students’ projects or just 25 in the same available amount of time, regardless of how the work is submitted. This category counts for 9% of the total score for a school.

In terms of scoring, each school earns up to 100 times the percentage value of the category, so that in total a maximum score of 10,000 is possible. For this category, since there is a range from 5.4 to 85.9 for schools, schools can earn up to 900 points.

Here are the ten lowest student-to-faculty rations of our group of schools:

1. Southern Arkansas
2. Tennessee - Martin
3. Western Kentucky
4. Georgia Southern
5. Wisconsin - LaCrosse
6. North Dakota
7. Louisiana - Monroe
8. Rowan
9. Fayetteville State
10. Mississippi

The overall lead is now as follows:

1st: Colorado – Denver (7,075)
2nd: Gonzaga (6,851)
3rd: Wisconsin – Whitewater (6,742)
4th(tie): Worcester Poly (6,697)
4th (tie): Michigan – Flint (6,697)
6th: Nebraska – Lincoln (6,533)
7th: Alabama (6,449)
8th: Auburn (6,446)
9th: Northeastern (6,275)
10th: Quinnipiac (6,176)
11th: Fayetteville State (6,168)
12th: Florida State (6,155)
13th: Alabama – Birmingham (6,108)
14th: Penn State (6,101)
15th: Houston – Victoria (6,000)
16th: Morehead State (5,933)
17th: Georgia Southern (5,848)
18th: Massachusetts – Amherst (5,708)
19th: Florida Gulf Coast (5,697)
20th: Washington State (5,551)
21st: Wyoming (5,544)
22nd: North Texas (5,502)
23rd: Texas – San Antonio (5,479)
24th: Western New England (5,434)
25th: Oklahoma State (5,414)