EMBA travel stipend helps execs get to class

Executives from as far away as Texas and Arizona routinely travel to New Orleans for the Freeman School’s Executive MBA, an accelerated program for management-level professionals that hosts classes on alternate weekends for 17 months.  

Getting to those classes just got a little easier thanks to Freeman’s Executive MBA (EMBA) travel stipend. 

The Executive MBA travel stipend is a billing credit available to students in the EMBA program who live 60 or more miles from Tulane and travel to attend classes on campus. Eligible students automatically receive the $7,500 stipend, with no additional application necessary. Funds are distributed in four installments over the course of the program, and recipients can use the money to offset the cost of flights, gas, hotel rooms, meals and other travel-related expenses. 

The goal of the stipend is to help ease the burden of travel so that non-local students can pursue the program. 

Catherine Burnam (MBA ’25), senior financial analyst and assistant vice president at Home Bank, says the stipend was indispensable.

“I needed to continue working my full-time position to cover living expenses, but I also wanted to attend in-person courses and meet a network of like-minded driven individuals,” says Burnham, who traveled from Lafayette, Louisiana, to attend classes. “For me, the stipend was huge. It proved especially beneficial during the full-week residency periods at both the beginning and end of the program.”

According to Danielle Martin, assistant director of executive education for the Stewart Center for Professional & Executive Education, the stipend does more than defray travel expenses. It also helps EMBA students build connections. 

“The travel stipend creates a richer classroom experience,” Martin says. “Students are able to connect with executive-level peers from diverse industries and backgrounds and build a professional network that spans geographical boundaries.”

And being able to make those connections in a city like New Orleans, Martin says, is a perk. 

“Students get the chance to explore the city and enjoy Tulane’s historic campus,” she says. 

Kelcey Andrews (MBA ’24), a business sales manager with Verizon who commuted from Houston, says the stipend made a difference in her decision to enroll in Freeman’s EMBA program. 

“The travel stipend demonstrated Freeman’s commitment to supporting students who commute and reassured me that the university understood and valued the challenges of pursuing an MBA while working full-time,” says Andrews. “It definitely played a role in my decision to choose Freeman.”