For Todd Oken, who graduated from Wharton’s East Coast EMBA program in 2007, paying for the program without sponsorship was a sacrifice. He already had a mortgage and a growing family so the decision to spend some of their savings and take on more than $100,000 in loans was a very big deal in his household. However, he felt so strongly about the benefits of a Wharton MBA degree that he ultimately decided it was not only a worthwhile investment, but a necessary one for his long-term career.