This MBA with a concentration of chief school business official (CSBO) provides the business fundamentals needed to lead and manage in today’s increasingly complex educational institutions. This distinctive program is appropriate for educational professionals preparing for the Chief School Business Official endorsement exam. The curriculum has the clinical experience of six credit hours of internship built in the program as required by the State of Illinois to be eligible for the CSBO endorsement. You will learn specific skills for an educational administrator related to budgeting, facilities management, human resources, public relations, and legal issues. By pursuing an MBA with a concentration of chief school business official, you will gain a solid foundation in school administration.
The information provided below applies to students admitted to attend Concordia University Chicago in the 2011–2012 academic year.
Students can choose from the following class formats:
MBA courses are $650 per credit hour. Most courses are worth three credits. Thirty-nine credits are required to complete the MBA program. Payment is due at the start of each term. Financial aid is available.
Our unique cohort system groups students together throughout their educational experience. You will complete the program one class at a time, in a predetermined sequence.
Total Credit Hours: 39
These classes are available in the classroom or online.
Introduction of key financial accounting concepts. Analysis of a firm’s historical, current and prospective financial condition and performance. Emphasis on investment and credit decision.
Developing and evaluating brand strategies over the life of the product. Strategies for introducing brands and reviving brands. Includes basic marketing principles of product, price, promotion, environment and customer.
Focus on basic microeconomic principles of the firm and relevance in business decisions. Covers supply and demand and its relationship to market outcomes and economic determinants of consumption, savings, and labor behavior.
Basic statistical concepts and analytical tools for data driven decision making. Introduction to concepts of frequency, distribution, variation and normal curve correlations with application to business decisions.
Decision making, negotiations and ethics. Cultural impact on management strategy. Create value, motivate resources, leading and creating high performance teams. Integrating performance across business units.
Focus on creation of money, function and roles of financial institutions, fiscal and monetary policy and the Federal Reserve system. Covers economic theory of financial markets and impact of government policies, determinants of national income, employment, investment, interest rates, inflation and exchange rates.
This class is available in the classroom or online.
Analyze policies in human resource management and organizational design, recruitment, selection hiring, development promotion and incentive based pay.
Accounting information used in decision-making. Why firms are adopting activity based costing, economic value added and balanced scorecard decision models. Budgeting, cash flow and incremental analysis.
Introduces students to the role of school business management including key concepts, skills and aptitudes. Provides a basis from which students can connect and apply key school business management concepts to their graduate business education in the MBA Program.
This course examines the legal framework for school districts in Illinois. Case law will be examined and applied to legal problems that confront school administrators.
Examination application of school program and curricular evaluation processes to school improvement. Examination and application of change processes and interventions.
Public values, policy issues, specialized terminology and practical problems associated with the generation, distribution and internal allocation and control of education revenues and expenditures.
An academic, semester long clinical experience at the K–12 level, requiring extensive, intensive and diverse assignments including school business management policies.
Internships will include:
Our unique cohort system groups students together throughout their educational experience. You will complete the program one class at a time, in a predetermined sequence. This collaborative environment accelerates learning and builds strong peer relationships that last a lifetime. We also host occasional networking events for our MBAs, which allows them to interact with other cohorts and alumni.
We facilitate a close working relationship between students and faculty. Group work is often part of the curriculum, which helps prepare students to work collaboratively in the business world. Student discussion is encouraged as the MBAs learn from each other’s diverse backgrounds.
At the end of the program, students will complete a capstone course. This class integrates the knowledge and skills gained from the MBA courses and applies them to a real business environment. Students will work as a team to solve an authentic business challenge.
Students should apply online at http://www.cuchicago.edu/applynow.
In addition to the application, students must submit an objective statement, academic transcripts, two letters of recommendation and a professional résumé. Complete MBA admission requirements are detailed here.
No. Concordia-Chicago does not require a GMAT score for admission to its MBA program.
No. There is no application fee for the MBA program.
Applicants who do not possess a cumulative grade point average above 2.85 or who have earned a master’s degree with a 3.0 GPA or higher may receive provisional or probationary admission. Please see GPA Requirements in the MBA Admission section of this Web site for a full description.
Your objective statement should capture the essence of who you are and give the reader information about yourself that may not be represented on a résumé. The content is completely up to you. It should provide information on your future educational goals and/or objectives and their relationship to pursuing graduate work at Concordia University Chicago.
Please see International Students in the MBA Admission section of this Web site.
Students do not need to be admitted to their degree program to register for their initial semester. Students are placed on pending/student-at-large guest status until all required documentation has been received and then may attend classes for one semester. The pending/student-at-large status does not apply to international students. See Pending Status in the MBA Admission section of this Web site for more information.
On-campus classes meet at our River Forest campus, located at 7400 Augusta St., River Forest, IL 60305. The campus is ten miles west of downtown Chicago.
Seven years.
Currently we only offer MBA courses in River Forest or online. We may begin offering classes in downtown Chicago, based on demand. Please let us know if you are interested in taking classes in Chicago.
Undergraduate courses will not count toward your MBA. Graduate courses from another school will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by our Graduate Admission staff.
MBA courses are $650 per credit hour. Most courses are worth three credits. Thirty-nine credits are required to complete the MBA program.
Payment is due before the start of each course.
Yes. A financial aid advisor will be happy to discuss your options and go over the application process with you. Contact Ethan Muench by phone at (708) 209-3234 or by email atEthan.Muench@CUChicago.edu. For more information online, read and print out out Steps to Apply for Financial Aid on our Web site.
Currently there are no university scholarships available for MBA students. Students are sometimes able to obtain scholarships from an outside party.
No. Online students will complete all coursework and discussions through Blackboard, which is a Web-based program that includes file posting, discussion boards, a calendar and grade posting, among other tools.
Students should be able to use whatever home computer they already own, whether a Mac or PC. You do not need to purchase a specific type of computer.
Students with technology problems or questions should call CougarNet. CougarNet is a collective group of technology services on Concordia University Chicago’s campus serving faculty and staff, as well as residential, off-campus and online students. Contact the CougarNet Helpdesk at (708) 209-3131 if you need assistance.