Investing Caffeine

Jack Welch University: Diploma or Black Belt?

June 24, 2009 at 5:30 am Leave a comment

You too can get your name plastered across a university (or online) for a measly $2 million. That’s what Jack Welch did when he purchased a 12% stake in the primarily online Masters of Business Administration Program (MBA) of Chancellor University. The name of the school according to The Wall Street Journal will be the Jack Welch Institute (JWI).

According to the WSJ:
Boston research firm EduVentures Inc. estimates that 11% of the roughly 18.5 million U.S. college students took most of their classes online in the fall of 2008, up from 1% a decade ago.

Online higher education will generate revenue of $11.5 billion this year, EduVentures says. But “there is a concern about quality,” says EduVentures Chief Executive Tom Dretler, because there’s “much, much less selectivity” of students in the admissions process.

So what does a Jack Welch student receive upon graduation – a diploma or a General Electric (GE) Six Sigma Black Belt? And what about Jack’s hard-nosed, no-nonsense business approach? Will all students learn how to negotiate like Jack, especially when it comes to retirement perks? The $21,000 tuition bill sounds steep on the surface, but well worth it if graduates can finagle exit package perks like Welch’s $86,000 a year consultant fee, use of an $80,000 per month Manhattan apartment, court-side seats to the New York Knicks and U.S. Open, seating at Wimbledon, box seats at Red Sox and Yankees baseball games, country club fees, security services and restaurant bills (The New York Times), not to mention a limousine, a cook, free flowers, country-club memberships and a charge account at Jean Georges restaurant.

Now that’s an MBA degree that may attract interest.

Wade W. Slome, CFA, CFP®           www.Sidoxia.com

Entry filed under: Education, Financial Markets. Tags: black belt, Chancellor University, Education, GE, Jack Welch, Jack Welch Institute, MBA, online, perks, Sidoxia, six sigma, Wade Slome.