Question

You currently make $100,000 a year and expect your salary increase by 10% a year for 20 years.   You are considering an MBA which will cost you $120,000 for the entire education. If you take the MBA, you will have to pay the full tuition today (all upfront) and you will make zero earnings at the end of years 1 and 2. However, after graduation you’ll have an opportunity to join an investment bank, which promises $130,000 a year, which will grow by 15% for 18 years after graduation. Is the MBA a good deal? Assume a constant discount rate of 15%. What if rates fall to 10%? What if rates rise to 17%, how does your answer change? Show your detailed spreadsheet calculations using Excel.

Answer 1

Year	Not doing MBA	Doing MBA	PV @ 15%	PV @ 10%	PV @ 17%	Not doing MBA	Doing MBA	Not doing MBA	Doing MBA	Not doing MBA	Doing MBA
0		-$120,000.00	1.0000	1.0000	1.0000	0	-$120,000.00	0	-$120,000.00	0	-$120,000.00
1	$100,000.00	0	0.8696	0.9091	0.8547	$86,956.52	$0.00	$90,909.09	$0.00	$85,470.09	$0.00
2	$110,000.00	0	0.7561	0.8264	0.7305	$83,175.80	$0.00	$90,909.09	$0.00	$80,356.49	$0.00
3	$121,000.00	$130,000.00	0.6575	0.7513	0.6244	$79,559.46	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$97,670.92	$75,548.84	$81,168.17
4	$133,100.00	$149,500.00	0.5718	0.6830	0.5337	$76,100.36	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$102,110.51	$71,028.82	$79,780.68
5	$146,410.00	$171,925.00	0.4972	0.6209	0.4561	$72,791.65	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$106,751.90	$66,779.23	$78,416.91
6	$161,051.00	$197,713.75	0.4323	0.5645	0.3898	$69,626.79	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$111,604.26	$62,783.90	$77,076.45
7	$177,156.10	$227,370.81	0.3759	0.5132	0.3332	$66,599.54	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$116,677.18	$59,027.59	$75,758.90
8	$194,871.71	$261,476.43	0.3269	0.4665	0.2848	$63,703.91	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$121,980.69	$55,496.03	$74,463.88
9	$214,358.88	$300,697.90	0.2843	0.4241	0.2434	$60,934.17	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$127,525.26	$52,175.75	$73,190.99
10	$235,794.77	$345,802.58	0.2472	0.3855	0.2080	$58,284.86	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$133,321.87	$49,054.13	$71,939.86
11	$259,374.25	$397,672.97	0.2149	0.3505	0.1778	$55,750.74	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$139,381.95	$46,119.26	$70,710.12
12	$285,311.67	$457,323.92	0.1869	0.3186	0.1520	$53,326.79	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$145,717.49	$43,359.99	$69,501.40
13	$313,842.84	$525,922.51	0.1625	0.2897	0.1299	$51,008.24	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$152,341.02	$40,765.80	$68,313.35
14	$345,227.12	$604,810.88	0.1413	0.2633	0.1110	$48,790.49	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$159,265.61	$38,326.82	$67,145.60
15	$379,749.83	$695,532.51	0.1229	0.2394	0.0949	$46,669.16	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$166,504.95	$36,033.77	$65,997.81
16	$417,724.82	$799,862.39	0.1069	0.2176	0.0811	$44,640.07	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$174,073.36	$33,877.90	$64,869.64
17	$459,497.30	$919,841.75	0.0929	0.1978	0.0693	$42,699.19	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$181,985.79	$31,851.02	$63,760.76
18	$505,447.03	$1,057,818.01	0.0808	0.1799	0.0592	$40,842.71	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$190,257.87	$29,945.40	$62,670.83
19	$555,991.73	$1,216,490.71	0.0703	0.1635	0.0506	$39,066.94	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$198,905.95	$28,153.80	$61,599.53
20	$611,590.90	$1,398,964.32	0.0611	0.1486	0.0433	$37,368.37	$85,477.11	$90,909.09	$207,947.13	$26,469.38	$60,546.55
					Present Value	$1,177,895.75	$1,418,587.98	$1,818,181.82	$2,514,023.71	$1,012,624.01	$1,146,911.44
Doing MBA is a good deal