Harvard Business School Discounts Online CORe Program

Harvard Business School Online has decided to discount the price of its Credential of Readiness program — CORe, for short — from its usual $2,250 to $450 in wake of the disruptions caused by coronavirus.

This 80 percent discount rate will be available to over 50,000 undergraduates who attend the 30 colleges that collaborate with HBS Online, which includes schools as proximate to the Business School as Harvard College and as far as the University of Western Australia.

CORe is comprised of three courses — Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting — as well as a final exam.

The online program is designed for undergraduates who want to develop their knowledge of business and prepare for an MBA program.

Valerie Krempus, an HBS Online administrator, said the decision to reduce the price of the program was partially influenced by pandemic-related economic consequences.

“We know that economic uncertainty can be scary and that individuals’ financial situations may have drastically changed in the last few weeks,” Krempus said.

Having spoken with HBS Online’s partner colleges, Krempus mentioned that she and her colleagues were also aware of the difficulties students face during the transition to remote learning. She also said that she knew how the pandemic has disrupted students’ summer plans including internships and job prospects and that she wanted to help.

“We wanted to do what we could to make it more affordable and to allow more people to have a meaningful summer experience,” Krempus said.

Krempus said CORe’s strength comes from its “very social” nature, virtually connecting students in the program with around 300 peers from around the world.

“They really get a robust global cohort that helps them as they think about networking beyond the CORe program or as they try to wrestle through concepts while they’re going through the material itself,” Krempus said.

Although Krempus does not anticipate extending the discount for the July and August sessions of CORe, she said that, as of now, “we hope that more people can take advantage of enrolling in CORe and gaining that knowledge.”

—Staff writer Haemaru Chung can be reached at haemaru.chung@thecrimson.com.