10/27/03 Bob Lowry, 334/844-9999

AUBURN'S MBA PROGRAM RECOGNIZED BY FORBES MAGAZINE

AUBURN -- The MBA program in Auburn University's College of Business has been ranked 26th nationally among public universities and 53rd overall in a Forbes magazine survey.

The survey of the nation's top 85 business schools concluded that an investment in an MBA degree still generates a good return, despite the nation's rocky economy and job market.

"The bottom line for any Business School is return on investment. This is the first time that we have been included in the Forbes survey, and we are pleased at the increasing national recognition for Auburn University," said Dan Gropper, director of AU's MBA Program. "While we are pleased that we came in 26th among public universities and 53rd in the nation overall, we are committed to strengthening our program and improving the results for our students."

The Forbes survey measured an MBA graduate's return on investment in a business school in dollars and cents.

"Our latest survey, which measures return on investment at 85 schools, concludes that B-schools paid back quite nicely for the class of 1998 -- a class that worked through the boom and bust since graduation," said Forbes.

Among the questions on the survey were: the graduate's five-year gain in salary, in dollars, five-year gain in income percentage-wise, number of years required to pay back tuition for MBA and post-MBA salary.

For AU MBA graduates who responded to the survey, the average five-year gain in salary was $46,000 -- a 78 percent increase. It took AU graduates 3.9 years to pay back their tuition.

The Auburn class of 1998 pre-MBA's salary was $25,000, but after completing their MBA at AU, the average rose to $63,000 in 2002.

Harvard University's MBA program was No. 1 in the nation, according to Forbes.

oct03:AU-forbes

# # #

CONTACT: Gropper, 334/844-2901.