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"Many aspirants want to pursue an MBA designation, but they do not want to leave their jobs," says Rao. "A full-time, two-year program simply takes too much time." Some schools are actively seeking out new pools of stu- dents who would be unable to pursue an MBA unless an option existed that suited their individual needs. For exam- ple, the Graziadio School of Management at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, recently launched its "Morning MBA." The 28-month program meets from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and recesses for seven weeks during the summer. Tailored to stay-at-home moms who want to fit an MBA into their family responsibilities, the program has garnered attention in the national news. "We've received the press be- cause we're targeting a largely untapped and unique market," says Linda Livingstone, dean of the Graziadio School. "We're finding, more and more, that our students have rigorous and demanding work and family schedules that require the need for more creative program alternatives in terms of schedul- ing and content. Offering more options, like the Morning MBA, is a necessary response to the rapidly changing business world." Pace University's Lubin School of Business in New York, New York, also has found a strong audi- ence for its EMBA model, eMBA@ Pace. The 23-month program combines online education with weekly conference calls and quarterly residencies. The program's content and delivery were designed to create an educational experience that was "problem-centered and student-driven," says Jim Hall, pro- fessor of management and associate dean for planning and assessment. This model was designed to provide students with hands-on experience in solving immediate business problems; but what faculty didn't anticipate, Hall notes, was the added benefits the new delivery structure would have for students. "With this model, if someone is transferred to a different town—or even a different country—they can still fly in for the quarterly residencies and work online with their teams." Hall mentions one student who was unexpectedly trans- ferred back to his home country of South Africa five months 24 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2006 before the end of the program. "With our old model, that would have been the end of the story for him," says Hall. "But he was able to fly in for residencies and complete the rest of his work from Cape Town." The format an MBA follows is really beside the point, asserts Joseph Baczko, dean of the Lubin School. "The focus of an MBA remains the creation, acquisition, and application of knowledge," says Baczko. "The MBA is evolving into new forms, and people who worry about that are missing the point. Instead, they should listen to employ- ers and students to find out what aspects are missing, like critical thinking, real-world problem solving, team-build- ing, and an interdisciplinary approach to teaching." Revenue Realities Although educational rigor and excellence are top priorities for these schools, there is still another factor to be considered: revenues. After all, business schools may bank their reputations on their tradition- al full-time, two-year MBA pro- grams, but they often bank their finances on the more profitable array of part-time, evening, and online options, says Dan LeClair, vice president and chief knowledge officer for AACSB International. "In many cases, full-time tra- ditional programs are not making money. They represent more of an investment in the school's repu- tation," says LeClair. "Part-time, executive, and other types of hybrid MBA programs are often a school's key opportunities for financial support." No business school can dismiss the fact that the market pays for what it wants, agrees James Danko, dean of Vil- lanova University's School of Business in Pennsylvania and president of the MBA Roundtable. "At the end of the day, business schools feel pressure to deliver revenues," he says. "As much as I'd like to think we're all academic purists, we still have to fill the seats." Filling those seats has become more difficult as students have more and more MBA choices. Business schools, espe- cially those in active metropolitan markets, are facing new competition from all quarters, says Jana Allen, director of Baylor University's executive MBA program in Dallas, Texas, and chair for the Executive MBA Council's board of trustees.