The Tippie College of Business recently graduated its last full-time MBA class. Tippie is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. The school had been seeing declining enrollment in its full-time MBA program. The peak enrollment was in the 1990’s, falling to 140 students in 2012 and 87 students in 2017, according to university spokesperson Tom Snee.

The Tippie College of Business recently graduated its last full-time MBA class. Tippie is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. The school had been seeing declining enrollment in its full-time MBA program. The peak enrollment was in the 1990’s, falling to 140 students in 2012 and 87 students in 2017, according to university spokesperson Tom Snee.

Jordan Simpson, a graduate of the last Full-Time MBA Class at the University of Iowa (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The school has decided to reassign its full-time faculty to other areas of the business college. None of the the 24 faculty members will lose their jobs, according to Dean Sarah Gardial. “The most compelling thing to us was that we had significant resources tied up in a program that was shrinking year by year,” Gardial said.

Although applications for MBA programs are down 6.6 percent, you shouldn’t rule out an MBA, full-time or part-time. Jordan Simpson, a graduate of the last class at Tippie College of Business, said, “there still is value in a full-time MBA. That being said, I think with the labor market the way it is, it’s tougher to justify leaving work for two years to do a full-time MBA.”

Simpson continued, “The part-time MBA is an opportunity for (students) to stay in their jobs and not have the opportunity cost of not working two years, while positioning themselves to get promoted or work at a higher level.”

Read more about the full-time MBA program at the University of Iowa at The Gazette in the story written by Thomas Friestad.