You are Ileana Duarte, Executive Director of Graduate Programs at Meridian Graduate School of Business in Miami. Three approved master's degrees ask for 78 course sections for the Fall 2026 intake, and only 45 are free. In 90 days the Dean takes a portfolio to the Board of Trustees, and your first call is which program heads the list.
The situation
It is Thursday, 5 March 2026. Meridian, the graduate division of a large public university, has about 2,400 students, 64 full-time faculty and some US$78 million of gross tuition a year. It funds itself: it keeps its net tuition and pays its own faculty and marketing from it. The Provost has approved the launches on one condition: no new central money and no new faculty lines this year.
What limits the school is neither classrooms nor applicants but teaching. A section taught by full-time faculty costs about US$95,000; one an adjunct can teach, about US$32,000. Not every course can go to an adjunct. Historically Meridian admits 55% of applicants and 38% of those admitted enrol.
Program A, an MS in Business Analytics with the STEM designation: 60 seats at US$52,000, 22 sections, all senior analytics faculty, of whom there are few; its class leans on international applicants and a federal visa review is under way. Program B, an MS in Health Administration online and hybrid: 90 seats at US$38,000, 30 sections, many adjunct-eligible; the largest and most contested market, with no senior name to hold price. Program C, an in-person Master in Sustainable Finance: 30 seats at US$46,000, 26 senior-faculty sections; two trustees have asked for it by name and a donor has circled it for a year.