For years, an MBA from Harvard or Stanford were considered as the ultimate business qualification. People were ready to take hefty bank loan to be able to pay the fees of these institutes. However, as per a recent study by Bloomberg Businessweek, it has been revealed that it can take a Harvard or Stanford MBA graduate more than 10 years to fully recoup his or her investment in the degree. Businessweek has used the following criteria to measure the return on investment (ROI): pre-MBA salaries, post-MBA salaries and cost of attending business school.

When we asked experts why is the return on these elite MBAs so slow? Well, one theory is that these B-schools generally have the highest tuition costs, and they attract applicants with high pre-MBA salaries, which mean they will not fare well in this ROI calculation. This would certainly disturb you and make you think twice before you make such a huge investment.

What was revealed is that pursuing MBA from a B-school which does not feature in top 25 B-schools will give your return on investment sooner than top B-schools. It is for this reason that as per the study, Texas A&M had the fastest return of any US-based program, with the investment recouped in just under three and a half years. Other U.S. MBA programs at the top of the ROI list include: Michigan State's Broad College of Business, the College of Business at the University of Illinois, and Penn State University - which all have ROIs of under four years. The ROI on Harvard degree is much later and it is for this reason that Harvard ranked at 69th position.