B School that Allows Undergrad to take Grad Courses

[SophiaPrincess]

Thanks to the advice on this forum, I will soon complete my bachelor's degree with three years of unused Pell Grant remaining.  If I postponed graduation, could I continue taking courses at another university beyond what is required to graduate?  If so, does anyone know an accredited business school that will allow an undergraduate student to take graduate courses? My goal is to transfer these graduate business courses into an accredited MBA program, ideally AACSB but I am open.  My current university will allow me take a limited number of graduate courses with a waiver but they do not have a graduate school of business so the courses would not help me obtain an MBA.

Thank you.

[ArshveerCheema]

Liberty University:

[color=var(--wp--preset--color--luo-gray-90)]If you are not already a Liberty student and want to apply for Dual Enrollment, you must:[/color]

• Email the Registrar’s Office at graduateregistrar@liberty.edu to request approval for dual enrollment.
  
  
• Complete the admissions requirements for the master’s degree with preliminary transcripts.
  
  
• Have your current university’s registrar send Liberty’s Registrar an official letter to confirm that you are in the last nine hours of your undergraduate degree program.
  

https://www.liberty.edu/online/dual-enro...0conferred.

[SophiaPrincess]

Liberty University:

[color=var(--wp--preset--color--luo-gray-90)]If you are not already a Liberty student and want to apply for Dual Enrollment, you must:[/color]

• Email the Registrar’s Office at graduateregistrar@liberty.edu to request approval for dual enrollment.
  
  
• Complete the admissions requirements for the master’s degree with preliminary transcripts.
  
  
• Have your current university’s registrar send Liberty’s Registrar an official letter to confirm that you are in the last nine hours of your undergraduate degree program.
  

https://www.liberty.edu/online/dual-enro...0conferred.

Thanks, I think Liberty is ACBSP but I understand it is a solid university.

[Heartstrings]

I went to a brick and mortar school for my undergrad degree. One of the requirements of my degree program was that the last 45 credit hours had to be taken at my university in order to graduate. You should check your schools rules. Also, that Pell grant money can't be used for graduate degrees. Have you thought of using the rest and maybe go for a second undergrad major using your elective credits?

[Jonathan Whatley]

Note these provisions in the 2024-2025 Federal Student Aid Handbook, Volume 7 Chapter 1, Student Eligibility for Pell Grants:

For the Pell Grant program, a student is an undergraduate only if the student has not earned or completed the requirements for a bachelor’s or professional degree. […]

Occasionally a student will complete all the requirements for a bachelor’s degree but will continue taking undergraduate courses without accepting the degree. Your school must decide whether and at what point the student completed the baccalaureate course of study. If your school determines that the student did complete a bachelor’s program (regardless of whether the student accepted the degree), then the student is no longer eligible to receive a Pell Grant. […]

A student may not receive Pell Grant payments concurrently from more than one school. If a student is awarded Pell for any period of concurrent enrollment, the student has the choice of which award to receive but is limited to a single award from a single school.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Common terms to search, paired with terms like "AACSB", "online", and "site:.edu", would include "4+1", "3+1", "bachelor's to master's", "bachelor's to MBA", and "accelerated MBA" (of course sometimes that means accelerated in some other way).

I'm seeing a few hits, like the 4+1 online BBA to MBA at the University of Texas Permian Basin.

What I'm seeing so far is programs in which students only take graduate courses (or undergraduate courses that will waive graduate courses locally) after having completed most of that school's AACSB undergraduate business program.

If you applied to such a program with your transcripts from sources like Sophia and UMPI, they'd determine what they would accept in transfer, then would probably send you to complete a number of undergraduate credits with them before being eligible to take graduate or graduate-waiving credits.

Maybe you'd be okay with this! Or maybe a program exists that would let you take graduate credits while an undergraduate student, but more promptly.

[SophiaPrincess]

Note these provisions in the 2024-2025 Federal Student Aid Handbook, Volume 7 Chapter 1, Student Eligibility for Pell Grants:

For the Pell Grant program, a student is an undergraduate only if the student has not earned or completed the requirements for a bachelor’s or professional degree. […]

Occasionally a student will complete all the requirements for a bachelor’s degree but will continue taking undergraduate courses without accepting the degree. Your school must decide whether and at what point the student completed the baccalaureate course of study. If your school determines that the student did complete a bachelor’s program (regardless of whether the student accepted the degree), then the student is no longer eligible to receive a Pell Grant. […]

A student may not receive Pell Grant payments concurrently from more than one school. If a student is awarded Pell for any period of concurrent enrollment, the student has the choice of which award to receive but is limited to a single award from a single school.

If it wouldn't break any rules, I was planning to pause my bachelor's with one or two classes remaining and take graduate classes in business at another university. After completing as many graduate courses as allowed, I will return to finish my bachelor's degree. Is there a better way?

[Heartstrings]

I would think the only way you can take graduate classes at another institution without having a bachelor's degree is the way John Whatley says through some acceleration program or as a non-degree seeking student. That might involve paying out of pocket.

[Jonathan Whatley]

If it wouldn't break any rules, I was planning to pause my bachelor's with one or two classes remaining and take graduate classes in business at another university. After completing as many graduate courses as allowed, I will return to finish my bachelor's degree. Is there a better way?

To make those graduate classes Pell eligible, they'd have to be part of an undergraduate degree program, and you'd have to be admitted to that program and meet all prior requirements in that program. I suspect this will be more trouble than it's worth.

[withrown]

Have you tried hashing this out with your advisor? That may be a good starting point to see if you can take these courses as a visiting student for elective credit.