06-01-2026, 02:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-01-2026, 03:35 PM by Jonathan Whatley.)
Keystone College, a regionally accredited private non-profit in La Plume, Pennsylvania, is now offering its Master of Business Administration in a competency-based education format, self-paced and subscription-priced, in addition to its existing on-campus and semester-based online formats, with courses starting in the Fall 2026 semester in August.
Six concentrations are available: Accounting, Finance, Health Systems Management, Leadership (with HR and organizational courses), Marketing, and Project Management. The MBA consists of nine core courses and three concentration courses.
In the competency-based format, “Courses must be taken sequentially. All competencies in each course must be met before progressing to the next course.”
CBE tuition is $5,000 per 16-week semester. “Most students complete the program in two or three semesters.” Start dates are in August, December, and April.
Prerequisites for the CBE format include five years professional work experience and a bachelor’s with 3.0 GPA. An applicant whose bachelor’s is not in business or related might be asked to complete undergraduate courses or equivalents in introduction to business or management, economics, and accounting.
The graduate catalog indicates up to 9 semester hours (3 courses) total may be awarded for transfer credit and/or prior learning assessment, granted before initial acceptance and enrollment at Keystone. Minimum B grade and seven year recency for transfer credit.
Keystone College is a non-profit college with about 1000 students based on a two-site traditional campus in the countryside near Scranton. It was founded in 1868 as a private preparatory high school, then became a private junior college in 1934, four-year in 1998, and master’s-level in 2014.
Keystone’s finances and accreditation were precarious during 2024 until late 2025, resolved by its merger into the Washington Institute for Education And Research, a well-funded charity founded by businessman Ahmed Alwani. Alwani was previously president of Virginia International University turned Fairfax University of America, a nationally accredited institution (ACICS) which closed in 2024. He’s also founder and president of the New Lines Institute think tank and publisher of New Lines Magazine, both focused on international relations in the Middle East.
In February 2026 Keystone’s regional accreditor, the MSCHE, removed the Show Cause status on its accreditation, which returned Keystone to normal Accredited status.
Keystone has undergraduate programs in business with specialized accreditation from the IACBE but this accreditation doesn’t currently extend to the MBA.
Six concentrations are available: Accounting, Finance, Health Systems Management, Leadership (with HR and organizational courses), Marketing, and Project Management. The MBA consists of nine core courses and three concentration courses.
In the competency-based format, “Courses must be taken sequentially. All competencies in each course must be met before progressing to the next course.”
CBE tuition is $5,000 per 16-week semester. “Most students complete the program in two or three semesters.” Start dates are in August, December, and April.
Prerequisites for the CBE format include five years professional work experience and a bachelor’s with 3.0 GPA. An applicant whose bachelor’s is not in business or related might be asked to complete undergraduate courses or equivalents in introduction to business or management, economics, and accounting.
The graduate catalog indicates up to 9 semester hours (3 courses) total may be awarded for transfer credit and/or prior learning assessment, granted before initial acceptance and enrollment at Keystone. Minimum B grade and seven year recency for transfer credit.
Keystone College is a non-profit college with about 1000 students based on a two-site traditional campus in the countryside near Scranton. It was founded in 1868 as a private preparatory high school, then became a private junior college in 1934, four-year in 1998, and master’s-level in 2014.
Keystone’s finances and accreditation were precarious during 2024 until late 2025, resolved by its merger into the Washington Institute for Education And Research, a well-funded charity founded by businessman Ahmed Alwani. Alwani was previously president of Virginia International University turned Fairfax University of America, a nationally accredited institution (ACICS) which closed in 2024. He’s also founder and president of the New Lines Institute think tank and publisher of New Lines Magazine, both focused on international relations in the Middle East.
In February 2026 Keystone’s regional accreditor, the MSCHE, removed the Show Cause status on its accreditation, which returned Keystone to normal Accredited status.
Keystone has undergraduate programs in business with specialized accreditation from the IACBE but this accreditation doesn’t currently extend to the MBA.
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