The Risk Management and Insurance major at the Tippie College of Business is now the third largest in the country, according to a survey from Business Insurance magazine for 2025. 

The RMI major is only in its third year but already has 350 undergraduate students enrolled as of October 2025, placing it behind only the University of Georgia and University of Wisconsin in the magazine’s survey. 

It was ranked fifth in the survey last year, when it had 263 students enrolled. The program has continued growing and currently has 445 students. 

Jim Lewis, director of the college’s Vaughan Institute of Risk Management and Insurance, points out that while RMI education programs are growing across the board, Tippie’s is setting the pace. Among the top ten programs in the survey, total enrollment increased by 140 students this year, with Iowa accounting for 87 of those, or 62%. 

He also said that while the undergraduate RMI program ranks third nationally, Tippie also has the fourth largest graduate-level enrollment thanks to the college’s Iowa MBA with an RMI focus. 

Lewis said that the insurance industry is struggling nationally with job vacancies with nearly half the industry approaching retirement age in less than ten years. 

“Programs like Tippie’s are an important part of helping to keep the industry moving forward and to reach the next generation, inspiring them and equipping them to be future ready,” said Lewis. 

The program is also important to Iowa, as the industry makes up a significant portion of the state’s economy and employs thousands of workers. As the only undergraduate RMI program in the state, Lewis said Tippie’s program creates a pipeline of educated workers that directly helps the state’s economy.

More information about the survey can be found at Business Insurance magazine. 

Media contact: Tom Snee, 319-384-0010 (o); 319-541-8434 (c); tom-snee@uiowa.edu