What you’ll learn in this article…
- Kellogg's Class of 2025 part-time graduates reported $173,500 median total compensation.
- 46% changed employers within four months, and half of those switched functions.
- 59% of employer-changers moved into new industries, not just new titles.
On Oct. 28, 2026, Kellogg reported that 46% of its Evening & Weekend MBA Class of 2025 changed companies within four months of graduation. Median total compensation, salary plus signing bonus, landed at $173,500.
Those two figures sit awkwardly beside the durable assumption that part-time students mostly stay put and collect a raise. They don't.
For an applicant weighing part-time against full-time, the question is not whether Kellogg is a strong school. It is whether $173,500, set against tuition and the evenings surrendered to coursework, clears the bar you have already set.
What the Class of 2025 Outcomes Report Actually Says, and How to Read It
On Oct. 28, 2026, Kellogg published career outcomes for its Evening & Weekend MBA Class of 2025. The release is short and worth reading in full: Kellogg's part-time MBA career outcomes report. Three reading habits keep the numbers from being misquoted.
Total compensation is not base salary
$173,500 is median total compensation: salary plus signing bonuses. Some coverage calls it "starting salary," which overstates base pay. Benchmark base against base and treat bonus separately.
If you carry a $150,000 base today, the $173,500 figure does not mean a $23,500 raise. It means the typical graduate's salary plus signing bonus landed there.
Changers versus stayers
46% of the class changed employers within four months of graduating; the other 54% did not. The 50% function-change and 59% industry-change figures describe that changer subgroup, not the entire class. Put plainly, roughly one in four graduates changed both employer and function.
What the release leaves out
It does not headline a pre-MBA salary baseline, does not report promotion rate as its own metric, and does not lead with a response rate. Each gap limits how far the numbers can carry an ROI argument, and each is treated in a later section.
The Part-Time MBA Is a Career-Change Vehicle, Not Just a Promotion Tool
Does a part-time MBA let you change careers, or does it mostly help you move up at the company you already work for?
It is easy to see why the assumption that evening and weekend students stay put has lasted. These students hold full-time jobs while enrolled, so programs have historically reported employer retention rather than a job-search funnel. That framing made the format look static.
The 46/50/59 Signal
Kellogg's Class of 2025 numbers argue otherwise. Within four months of graduation, 46% of the Evening & Weekend MBA class had changed companies. Of those movers, 50% stepped into an entirely new function, and 59% landed in a new industry. Nearly three in five employer-changers crossed an industry line. That is not a promotion story with a new title at the same desk. It is a deliberate re-positioning.
What This Means for Switchers
If your goal is to move from operations into consulting, or from healthcare into technology, the format does not chain you to your current employer. The schedule asks more of you, but the outcome data says the exit is real.
That does not make staying a consolation prize. Promotion, expanded scope, and a stronger internal case are legitimate returns on the degree, and many students pursue exactly that. The point is optionality: you can stay and advance, or leave and change lanes, and the degree supports both.
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The number to hold onto from Kellogg's October 2026 release is $173,500, median total compensation for the Evening & Weekend MBA Class of 2025.
How Much Does a Kellogg Part-Time MBA Raise Your Salary?
An internal raise is one route after a part-time MBA; changing employers is another, and the published data suggests the second carries more of the salary upside.
The best available external anchor
Kellogg's Class of 2025 release reports total compensation without a pre-MBA baseline, so the cleanest lift benchmark comes from NYU Stern Langone's part-time program. Its Class of 2025 moved from $97,542 to $143,274, a 47% increase worth $45,732.1 Across the 2021 to 2025 classes, Stern averages a 53% gain, or about 18% a year over the three-year program.1 Chicago Booth's part-time Class of 2025 reported a median base of $170,500, a $30,000 median signing bonus, and a salary range of $90,000 to $400,000.2
Percentage lift shrinks as your base grows
An early-career analyst earning $85,000 who reaches $130,000 has gained 53%. A senior manager at $180,000 who adds $50,000 has gained 28%. Same dollar move, very different percentage, which is why senior applicants should weigh the dollar lift rather than the headline rate. The published part-time reports do not break salary progression out by years of experience.
Benchmark against the $173,500 figure
Add your current base and bonus, then compare the total with Kellogg's $173,500 median, adjusted for your target industry's typical pay level. For context only, the 2025 national median for general and operations managers was $105,770; that is occupational wage data, not Kellogg graduate earnings.
Where Part-Time Graduates Land: Industries, Functions, and Pay
Industry and function are separate axes, not competing labels: a finance role inside a technology company counts on both lists. The table shows the top three segments on each axis for the Class of 2025. If your target function sits outside the top three, the $173,500 median total compensation is a weaker guide to your own likely outcome than it is for candidates targeting finance, marketing and sales, or consulting.
| Category | Segment | Share of Class of 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services | 21% |
| Industry | Healthcare | 15% |
| Industry | Technology | 12% |
| Function | Finance | 30% |
| Function | Marketing and sales | 23% |
| Function | Consulting | 17% |
Part-Time vs. Full-Time vs. Executive MBA: Career Outcomes Side by Side
The pay numbers across Kellogg's Evening & Weekend, full-time, and Executive MBA formats can look close, so the differences that matter lie elsewhere.
Reading the numbers fairly
Kellogg's Full-Time MBA Class of 2025 reported a $175,000 median base salary and a $30,000 median signing bonus, with 85% receiving a bonus. The Evening & Weekend Class of 2025 reported $173,500 in median total compensation, a figure that bundles salary and signing bonuses. The two are close but not identical measures, so read them as parallel signals rather than a straight comparison. Full-time outcomes often look larger because that cohort runs an internship-driven recruiting cycle and switches careers at a higher rate; evening and weekend students arrive already employed and already paid.
The peer check
Chicago Booth's part-time Class of 2025 posted a $170,500 median base salary and a $30,000 median signing bonus, though only 24% received one.1 Comparisons to Stern and Haas take more care: Stern's published $175,000 is a full-time figure2, while Haas's part-time Class of 2025 reported a $167,250 median base salary.
The decision rule
- Full-time: choose it if you need the internship pipeline and can absorb a year without salary.
- Evening & Weekend: choose it if you want to change employer, function, or industry without pausing income.
- Executive MBA: choose it if you are already senior and your employer is funding the degree.
Networking, Employer Sponsorship, and the Hidden Career Levers
How common is employer tuition assistance in a part-time MBA, and what does it require in return?
A broad 2026 estimate puts employer tuition assistance at more than 60% of part-time MBA students, though school-level figures for top programs are not published. The most common benchmark is the federal tax-free limit of $5,250 a year. Industry estimates put substantial large-employer sponsorships at 50% to 80% of tuition, or $15,000 to $30,000 annually, but that is a market estimate rather than a top-school average.
The Strings Attached
Kellogg's Evening & Weekend MBA materials name full support, partial support, and reimbursement upon graduation. Employers may also require you to stay through graduation, repay support if you leave early, or reimburse only after coursework. Written post-graduation commitments are common enough that Kellogg advises applicants to consider one for "a certain amount of time." Those obligations can tie graduates to their current employer, so reported employer-change rates may understate mobility.
Beyond the Classroom
The evening and weekend format supplies a cohort of working managers, team projects tied to real employers, alumni access, and career services that applicants often assume part-time students forgo.
The trade-off is time. Staying employed preserves income and sponsorship but compresses the time available for a structured job search. Career switchers should plan recruiting around their work calendar rather than assume they can improvise.
What the Data Still Doesn't Tell You
A career outcomes report is a snapshot at a fixed moment, and Kellogg's Evening & Weekend MBA figures for the Class of 2025 are taken four months after graduation. That window captures graduates who moved fast and misses those whose offers, internal transfers, or visa steps took longer. The career-change share is a moving target, not a final number.
No Baseline, No Calculable Lift
The release does not publish a pre-MBA salary baseline, so no salary lift can be computed from Kellogg's own numbers for this cohort. Readers who want a percentage gain have to anchor on an external benchmark, which measures a different population.
What Is and Isn't Published
Promotion rate and employer-change rate are distinct metrics. Kellogg quantifies employer change at 46% within four months; it publishes no standalone promotion figure for the Class of 2025, so retention should never be read as a promotion rate. Evening and weekend cohorts are also reported together, meaning no format-level comparison exists for applicants choosing between the two formats.
Which Way the Bias Runs
Outcome surveys are voluntary and self-reported. Graduates with strong results answer at higher rates, so the true distribution is likely wider than the headline, in both directions. Kellogg publishes no response rate for this release, so the size of that skew cannot be measured.
How to Evaluate Part-Time MBA ROI Before You Apply
Sticker price and payback period answer different questions: the Kellogg Evening & Weekend MBA can look expensive on the first and sensible on the second.
Start With the Real Cost
For 2026-27, the per-credit rate is $8,644.1 At the traditional pace of 20.5 credits, projected tuition is $177,202. The $2,140 Student Activity and Experience Fee and $620 course materials fee bring that to $179,962; estimated books and supplies add $3,649, for a projected total of $183,611.1 The accelerated pace, 15.5 credits, projects $133,982 in tuition, $136,602 with required fees, and $139,361 with books.1 Tuition projections exclude future increases and are not cost guarantees. Budget separately for travel to in-person sessions and cohort events, and count the hours. The format's biggest financial advantage is that you keep earning while enrolled.
Build the Return Side
Estimate your expected salary lift, add any signing bonus if you switch employers, and subtract employer sponsorship from tuition. Then run the payback formula: net tuition after sponsorship divided by the annual post-MBA compensation increase gives the years to break even. A switcher with a large lift and a bonus can reach break-even faster than a stayer with a modest raise, even though the stayer may have sponsorship and uninterrupted income.
The Comparison That Matters
Part-time economics trade a slower path and an often smaller post-graduation salary jump for continued income and no recruiting blackout. That trade, not the sticker price, is the real ROI question.
