Over the past three years, the number of graduates of part-time MBA programs has shot up 14.5% — to 22,210 in the 1999-2000 academic year. And half of Business Week’s top 30 full-time MBA programs now offer part-time degrees. That’s because a large segment of the pre-MBA universe — an older and increasingly diverse segment — wants the advantages an MBA confers in terms of prestige and money without having to go back to school and sacrifice two years of income — plus, possibly, their existing careers.

HARDER RECRUITMENT. Now, the leaders in part-time MBA education are trying to take their programs to the next level. They’re putting more emphasis on relevance and innovation in their course offerings, and they’re adding such enhancements as Web-enabled courses and more electives. Others are working to improve the image and success of part-timers. At New York University’s Stern School of Business, a new career-resources adviser works with part-timers to develop job opportunities. And the career-services office at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management now sends representatives to advise part-timers at their downtown Chicago campus during evening classes.

Still, for all of the growth of such programs, many B-schools are struggling to keep the good times rolling. When unemployment is low and the economy sizzles, most business schools find it harder to recruit students away from good careers. Kim Corfman, academic director of the part-time program at New York University’s Stern School, has noticed a drop in applications this year (the school accepted 60% of its applicants in 1999).

KEEPING ‘EM HAPPY. Another goal for the schools is to simply hold on to what they have, as jobs become more demanding — and mobile. Halfway through a part-time program, an employer can transfer a student across country and out of reach, for example. These dropouts take their toll. At Wayne State University in Detroit, for instance, 150 to 200 students drop out each year. That costs the school “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” and hampers it from adding new courses, says the school’s Dean, Harvey Kahalas.

This realization has schools such as Stern lavishing resources on their part-timers. Stern’s program now has its own administrative offices and a community-building orientation program for new students. “We wondered if they wanted a sense a sense of community, and they’re loving it,” says Corfman. The school is also incorporating distance learning.

Such schools are also reacting to complaints from part-time students. Indeed, a recent survey of 5,000 part-time MBAs by the AACSB and New Jersey-based Educational Benchmarking found that the students rated their overall satisfaction with the career services offices at their schools 3.79 on a scale of 7.0.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. In fact, recruiters are generally enthusiastic about part-time MBAs. Portia Smith, manager for the staff associates program for Sprint, says her company is starting to eyeball part-timers. “The biggest hurdle is getting past the schools, since the students’ employers are often paying the tuition and fees for the students,” she says. For now, she’s noticing more part-time MBA students at her on-campus briefings. “They say that they’re interested and ask how they can be interviewed.” Smith particularly likes the fact that part-timers tend to have more work experience, she says.

Best of all for recruiters, the conflict of interest that B-schools face when finding new jobs for part-timers whose education is financed by their current employer is that fewer and fewer of them are funded by their companies. “Companies see it as a cost savings, and employees are less loyal to companies now,” says Arthur Centonze, dean of the Lubin School af Pace University.

That news may prompt schools such as Michigan State to reconsider their policies on part-time MBA recruiting. Currently, Dean James Henry says, “after the [weekend MBA students] finish the program, if they’re leaving their company, we’ll support them. But in the weekend MBA program, it’s made clear from the beginning that [placement] service won’t be provided for them.”

FASTER TRACK. Schools have also gotten the message that part-time students don’t relish going to night school forever and that they want a wider variety of course work. Thus, Michigan State recently revamped its part-time program to shorten the curriculum to 18 months — vs. two years for the school’s full-time program. Baruch College, which is part of New York’s state university system, has also added an accelerated part-time MBA program that takes just 24 months, vs. the normal four years.

The ultimate draw for students may be that it’s much easier to land a spot as a part-time MBA-er than as a full-timer. Lyons says Kellogg selects 35% of applicants for admission to its part-time program, while the school’s full-time program sorts through more than 5,000 applications to choose a lucky 18%. The University of Michigan reports that 63% of its part-time students are accepted — vs. 21% for its full-time program.

Once they’re admitted, however, students say the workload is equal.

MORE BETTER WIDGETS. Part-timers do pay a price. At many schools, especially those with vibrant day programs, special guests such as CEOs, entrepreneurs, and dignitaries make their lecture rounds before part-time students come to class. “We’re on the mailing lists that announce when good speakers arrive on campus,” says Venugopala of Bentley, “but we can’t go. [Those events] are the biggest things that part-time students miss out on.” Lyons agrees: “Evening students don’t get the networking or extracurricular [activities] that the full-timers do.”

Ultimately, many employers see an MBA as an MBA, no matter how it’s earned. It shouldn’t take business schools long to do the calculation: If the product — the student with a part-time MBA — is both popular and highly profitable, then you want to turn out plenty of good ones.

Part-Time Students Are Getting Full-Time Attention: Enrollment is at record highs. And since part-timers are so profitable, schools are going out of their way to attract and keep them –Written by Mica Schneider from BusinessWeek.