Tenaciously ambitious looks like YOU.

Welcome to the Fall 2025 One Year MBA

Ready to Commit?

Congratulations on your acceptance to the fastest MBA in Denver! Ready to join the CU Denver One Year MBA Program?  Accept your offer, pay your deposit, and our program staff will be in touch via email soon after with next steps.

Need more details to make your decision?  Our OYMBA program staff are always ready to assist.  Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have.  We will be happy to speak with you via Zoom, over the phone, or via email at a time convenient for you. In the meantime, we have highlighted some program details and commonly asked questions on this page.

 
  • The program provides all students with access to MBA Math prior to the start of classes. These self-paced lessons provide students with basic lessons in Accounting, Finance, Economics, Statistics, and Excel. These modules provide students with a foundation or refresher in these quantitative subject matters so all students are ready to hit the ground running, once classes begin.
  • The 45-credit hour program consists of five eight-week terms with breaks between terms and an international course abroad, lasting anywhere from about 10-12 nights.  
  • The One Year MBA is designed so your curriculum will be taken with your dynamic and diverse cohort.  This unique structure supports building lasting relationships with your peers through teamwork, group presentations, and projects.
  • Your credit hours are made up of core courses, electives, and an international course abroad. 
  • All students also participate in business consulting projects where you gain hands-on experience to add to your resume.  Students also have the option of applying for competitive, paid internships to fulfill some elective credit in the program.  

Estimated Program Time Commitment: You should expect approximately 15 hours a week for class, with another 25 hours as an estimate for homework, studying, and group projects outside of class.  Please note that these estimates do not include the time spent working on consulting projects, which generally will add another 20-25 hours a week to your time commitment during certain terms.  These numbers are estimates only and may vary for each student. 

For your planning purposes, the program will kick off with a required orientation.  More details about orientation will be shared closer to the start of the program.

Required Orientation: Monday, August 18, 2025

First Day of Class: Tuesday, August 19, 2025 

Please click on this link to view a sample of the OYMBA Schedule. The schedule for the 2025-2026 OYMBA program will be provided to students before the start of the program. All One Year MBA classes meet in the below format:

  • Tuesday and Thursday, In-Person
    • 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
    • 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
  • Online Course
    • Asynchronous, no meeting time

  • The cost of tuition is $58,000 regardless of state or country of residence.
  • Student fees and cost of textbooks are not included in the tuition amount. Keep in mind that student fees vary each semester, but typically average no more than $2,500 in total for the year.  Students can estimate $1,000 for textbooks in total for the year; many faculty use e-readings and articles in lieu of textbooks.
  • Students in the OYMBA program, are charged for their tuition and student fees per the university billing calendar of fall, spring, and summer.  The tuition for the program is equally billed across each of those billing cycles.  For your planning, the fall tuition bill will not be due until September. An exact date will be provided to students when available. 
  • Financial Aid is available for domestic students. Payment plans are available for students regardless of state or country of residence.  

One Year MBA Program Scholarships

In addition to any earned Early Bird and One Year MBA Admission scholarships, there are program-specific scholarships to apply for.  Scholarships of up to $5,000 may be awarded in any of the following categories, and each category could have more than once recipient:

  • One Year MBA Leadership Scholarship
  • One Year MBA STEM Scholarships
  • One Year MBA Global Citizen Scholarship
  • One Year MBA CU Denver Alumni Scholarship

To Apply:

  1. Please fill out a Scholarship Application
  2. The scholarship application must be submitted no later than May 17th, by 12:00 p.m. MST. 
  3. Completed scholarship applications will be reviewed soon after May 17th and all applicants will be notified by email by early June.

Additional Scholarship Opportunities

CU Denver has an online portal for internal and external scholarships available for all committed CU Denver students. Once you accept your offer and pay your deposit, our program will provide information of how to access and browse additional scholarships offered by the campus, associations, or private donors.

Financial Aid and International Funding

  • Domestic students can apply for financial aid to cover the cost of attendance for the program. Financial aid typically covers direct costs (tuition and fees) and indirect costs (books and supplies, personal expenses, and off campus housing).
  • We recommend students apply for financial aid after committing to the One Year MBA Program. More details will be provided once you have submitted your deposit.
  • International students are not eligible for Financial Aid through CU Denver, as aid is federally funded. International students should check with their government to see if there are any scholarship or loan program for international study. Additional funding opportunities may be found through:

Graduate Assistantships / On-Campus Student Employment 

  • The OYMBA program funds several competitive Graduate Assistantship (GA) positions in the Business School for students in our program. 
  • GA positions are paid student-hourly jobs that allow OYMBA students to work for a Business School department.  They provide a great opportunity to earn some income and become connected with the larger Business School community. 
  • One Year MBA Graduate Assistantships are available to students who have accepted their offer and paid their deposit.  All GA applications become available in July.
  • Separately, there are many on-campus student employment opportunities that students can consider applying for.  More details are available once students have paid their deposit. 

We have many students that use VA or military education benefits at CU Denver and specifically in the One Year MBA program. Students planning to use military education benefits will work closely with our Veteran & Military Student Services Office throughout our program. However, we wanted to outline some reminders about using these benefits in our program as well as next steps once you decide to accept your place in our program:

Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH)

  • The VA does not pay Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) during term breaks or when you may not have class due to a holiday. This applies to any program a student is in, not just the One Year MBA program.
  • For your planning purposes, the One Year MBA program has a unique program structure with five, eight-week terms. Between terms, there is a break. Students using military education benefits should plan accordingly for no BAH between during these term breaks.

Military Education Benefits and Study Abroad

  • The VA does not cover costs associated with study abroad for any student, regardless of program that they are in.
  • For your planning purposes, the One Year MBA program has a required study abroad course as part of the program. Therefore, students using military education benefits should budget to pay out of pocket for the costs associated with the study abroad course such as airfare, accommodation, transportation and meals.
  • Students can estimate approximately $4,000, but an exact breakdown of cost will be provided by program staff to you during the spring semester.

One Year MBA Deposit

  • The One Year MBA program requires a $1,000 deposit to secure your place in the program. If you are receiving benefits, you are still required to pay this deposit, which will go toward your portion of tuition and fees. If you are 100% covered by the Post 9-11 GI Bill, your full deposit will eventually be refunded to you after the program begins.

  • Once you accept your place in the program, our CU Denver International Student and Scholar Services Office (ISSS) will reach out directly to you regarding next steps to start the process of obtaining your student visa.
  • The ISSS Office will email an Immigration Clearance Form (ICF), which collects information from you to be able to issue an I-20. As a reminder, all international students will be required to provide proof of funding of an estimated $96,433. The exact amount will be provided to you by ISSS.
    • This is the cost of attendance set by US Immigration, and proof of funding is required as a part of the ICF process. 
  • If you have any specific visa questions before deciding whether to accept your place in our program or not, please reach out to our One Year MBA Manager, Nicole.Corken@ucdenver.edu who will be able to connect you with someone in our ISSS Office who can best assist with visa related questions.