Cost and experience driving new approaches to Master’s degree study

27 July 2026

Andrew Crisp examines some of the early findings from this year’s Tomorrow’s Masters study.

The postgraduate business Master’s (non-MBA) market continues to grow with GMAC data from last year suggesting 9% year-on-year increases in application.  However, the market is changing and there may be some headwinds that will slow future growth.

The upcoming Tomorrow’s Master’s report, due to be published in August, found financial barriers are a growing concern for a large group of students.  Living costs while studying are cited by 51% as a reason not to pursue a Master's degree – up from 48% last year – and inability to pay fees is a concern for 44%, up from 40%. When choosing a provider, total fees and other costs have risen to become the single most important consideration, selected by 31% of respondents.

One of the consequences of the concern about costs appears to be learners looking at different ways to study.  Since 2021, the proportion preferring full-time study has fallen from 68% to 43%, reflecting both financial pressures and a preference for genuinely flexible delivery, but also a growing number of older, post-experience students.  Among those pre-experience students, interest on full-time study on campus runs at 47% compared to 35% among older learners.  By contrast, only 13% of pre-experience students prefer blended delivery compared with 22% of post-experience learners.

However, cost is not such a key driver for the older group.  While pre-experience learners completing an undergraduate degree, some with high levels of debt, appear wary of taking on more debt for an immediate Master’s degree – 32% are concerned about total fees and other costs when selecting a provider, the respective figure for older learners is 27%.

It seems that older workers perhaps in established jobs and may have accumulated some savings to support their studies, or at least reduced their undergraduate debt; 36% expect to pay fees in full themselves without support from elsewhere compared to 22% of pre-experience learners.

For business schools, there may be advantage in differential pricing approaches.  Rather than seeing blended learning as the cheaper alternative to full-time on campus, there may be a premium to pay for flexibility, or at least a recognition that discounting should not be part of a blended offer.

The 2026 Tomorrow’s Master report will be published in August and will be available on the CarringtonCrisp website.  Further insights will appear in our next newsletter.

Photo by www.kaboompics.com