Almost half of adult learners say more financial aid would change their mind about enrolling, and a third aren't even sure they can afford to start, according to BestColleges' 2026 Adult Learner Enrollment Hesitancy Survey. Cost isn't a side issue for working adults considering an MBA — it's the main one.
EDU Effective's answer to that isn't a general promise to "keep tuition low." It's a named, standing scholarship fund that covers 50% of tuition for students who can't otherwise afford to study but show real motivation — and it's funded entirely by the graduates who came before them.
What the Fund Actually Covers
The Joseph James LeVesque Scholarship Fund covers 50% of tuition for an accepted applicant. It isn't awarded continuously — the fund works toward a €10,000 collection milestone before each new round opens, since every scholarship comes directly out of money graduates and alumni have already chosen to donate. Last year's round was the fund's largest yet: 25 scholarships granted. A call for applications for the next round goes up in fall 2026, on the website and across EDU Effective's social channels.
Last Year's 25 Recipients
A scholarship fund is easy to describe in the abstract. Here's who it actually reached last year:
- Adela Zajickova
- Artur Kononov
- Dominika Koritinova
- Eliska Chladkova
- Fortune Sithole
- Gabriela Candy Onofre Arce
- Christian Mlay
- James Ndua
- Jana Chylikova
- Josefina Vybora
- Karolina Hedlova
- Katerina Valentova
- Kondwani Zulu
- Leona Novakova
- M. Tamam Hariri
- Maksym Karakai
- Marco Pires Duarte
- Martina Habova
- Moors Bin Abdul Kassim
- Nikola Nevolova
- Olga Klusova
- Pim Van Der Horst
- Robi Muhamad
- Stella Sabolova
- Veronika Puzmanova
Twenty-five people, from a genuinely international mix of backgrounds, who wanted to complete an ASIC accredited Effective MBA and didn't have the means to pay for it outright. Now they do.
Who It's Named For
The fund carries the name of Dr. Joseph (Joe) LeVesque, an EDU Effective board of trustees member from 2020 until his death on January 28, 2022, after a short illness. Before joining the board, Joe spent more than four decades in sales and marketing management and entrepreneurship — including senior leadership roles at SeaWorld of Texas and Six Flags Over Texas — and over a decade teaching as a professor at Northwood University. He served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Naming the fund after him wasn't a branding decision — it's a way of keeping a specific person's belief in adult education attached to every scholarship it funds, rather than letting it become an anonymous line item.
How the Fund Actually Works
The money comes from the same mechanism that funds EDU Effective's charity donations: every graduate directs part of their tuition toward a cause of their choice, and the scholarship fund is one of the options on that list, alongside external charities. Once a round has enough committed funds behind it, here's roughly how it plays out:
- Applications open for a fixed window once the fund posts a call.
- After the window closes, EDU Effective compiles the applicant list and shares it with everyone who contributed to the fund — graduates, alumni, sponsors, and the Board of Trustees.
- Contributors vote on which applicants should receive a scholarship, until the available funds are fully allocated.
- Results go out to every applicant within two weeks of the decision. Anyone awarded a scholarship has 60 days to claim it and enroll — if they don't, the funds roll over to the next round instead of going unused.
It's a genuinely unusual model: the people paying for the scholarship also decide, collectively, who gets it.
Why This Matters Specifically for Working Adults
Even the cheapest accredited online MBAs in Europe aren't actually cheap. GMAC's own research lists the most affordable options on the continent running from roughly $10,000 to $27,500 — and those are the low end of a QS-ranked list, not the exceptions. Against that backdrop, EDU Effective's Effective MBA programs already start at €990. A Joseph James LeVesque Scholarship on top of that isn't a symbolic discount — for someone who qualifies, it's the difference between studying and not studying at all.
The Global Reach of Applicants
Since the fund launched, applicants have written in from well outside Western Europe — prospective students in Malawi, Ethiopia, and Uganda have all reached out asking to be considered, describing tuition costs that are modest in euros but genuinely difficult to raise in local currency. That's the actual audience this fund is built for: motivated adults for whom even a €990 program is out of reach without help.
The Fall 2026 Application Window
The next call for applications is expected in fall 2026, posted on edueffective.com and across EDU Effective's social channels. If your financial situation is currently the only thing standing between you and an Effective MBA, this is worth watching for directly rather than waiting to hear about it secondhand.
Every Graduate Contributes, No Matter the Specialization
This isn't tied to one program — it's built into all five best-selling Effective MBA Programs.
Whether someone completes Effective MBA: Executive Management & Leadership, Applied Artificial Intelligence, Coaching, Leadership & Mentoring, Mastery in AI, or Online Marketing, the same €25 goes to a cause they pick — the scholarship fund included. See the full lineup on the program page.
All best-selling Effective MBA programs run on the same model: 15 minutes a day, 10 months or less, ASIC accredited, from €990. These are professional programs, not academic ones — built for working adults to apply what they learn directly in their own business, not to collect a scholarly credential.
Questions about studying at EDU Effective or about the charity program specifically? Reach out, or check the FAQ section for more.
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Sources
- EDU Effective: edueffective.com/about
- Adult learner cost-barrier statistics: BestColleges 2026 Adult Learner Enrollment Hesitancy Survey, via PR Newswire
- GMAC — 10 Business Schools With the Most Affordable Online MBAs in Europe: gmac.com