The Tippie College of Business announced it is merging its Online MBA and part-time Professional MBA programs, with the goal of providing students with more options and greater flexibility as they pursue their education.

The merger means that University of Iowa MBA students will be able to take classes fully online or in person at multiple locations around the state and have them count equally toward completion of the degree. Amy Kristof-Brown, dean of the Tippie College of Business, said the new Iowa MBA is more student-focused and flexible.

“The new Iowa MBA will bring Iowa’s top-ranked part-time MBA and our rapidly growing online MBA together into one program where students have complete flexibility to study in any format they want,” Kristof-Brown said in a press release. “Students can customize their schedule and take courses in person or online depending on what works best for them, and even take the semester off if they need to.”

The added flexibility is especially useful during the COVID-19 pandemic because students who typically take in-person courses will be able to stay on track for graduation by taking online classes.

The tuition for the program will remain unchanged. “At $31,500, a highly-rated Big Ten MBA with endless flexibility is hard to beat,” said Kristof-Brown. “No other program offers the credibility, small class sizes, and flexibility at our price point.” Currently, 979 students are enrolled in the part-time MBA program; more than 400 are in the Online MBA program.

The merger is the latest step in Tippie’s ongoing redesign of its professional programs, making changes and additions that better match what students and employers want. After dropping its full-time program in 2019, the college added two master’s degrees — business analytics and finance — and its Online MBA program.

Students have responded favorably to the changes, say Tippie officials. The Online MBA went from 40 students in its first class in 2019 to more than 400 in just a few semesters, while both master’s programs have exceeded enrollment expectations.