Amber Kraft has business in her DNA. Growing up in Mason City, she listened to her father, the owner of an office equipment store, talk about product trends and advertising. Later, as a teen, she helped him with bookkeeping and inventory management.

Kraft, shown in the photo above, studied business administration and finance in college and, after graduation, went to work full-time for her dad. A few years later, she took a job with Anderson Merchandisers, an in-store service provider. Kraft excelled, and in 2017, after a series of promotions, she felt ready to tackle the ultimate business degree—the MBA.

But finding an MBA program was more difficult than expected. The local MBA program Kraft initially enrolled in canceled her cohort due to low enrollment. Other programs were too far away or expensive, so Kraft was forced to put her dream on hold. A few years later, when she heard about a 100% online MBA at the Tippie College of Business, Kraft was elated; she knew she’d finally found her MBA home.

“I’ve been dreaming of getting an MBA since I graduated from college,” says Kraft, who started her MBA journey in 2022 and will graduate later in 2023. “Now, I’m getting the education I need for the next phase of my career. I’m confident I’ll be prepared to move up the ladder and to take on whatever comes next.”

Kraft isn’t the only Iowan making good on her career goals. Thanks to the Iowa MBA flexible program structure—with in-person, online, and hybrid learning options available—getting an MBA in Iowa has never been easier.

“We’re hearing from Iowans who say they have run out of excuses,” says Jen Blackhurst, associate dean for graduate management programs at Tippie. “All the challenges they thought were there—travel, time away from the office and the kids—have just dropped away.”

Highly ranked, easy to access

Ranked No. 9 among public universities with online MBA programs by the Princeton Review (2023) and No. 1 part-time MBA in Iowa by U.S. News & World Report (2023), the Iowa MBA has increased enrollment by nearly 70% since 2022, the year it started offering a 100% online option.

The switch, initially triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, has helped the school reach students in 67 of 99 Iowa counties and even some in neighboring states and foreign countries. The online format is especially popular among female executives.

“In the past five years alone, we have trained students from 600 different Iowa companies,” says Blackhurst, who meets regularly with business leaders to gauge training needs in the state. “We’re incredibly grateful to be able to help so many Iowans upskill quickly and easily.”

The switch from in-person to online didn’t happen overnight, says Blackhurst, but the urgency to serve Iowans during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond motivated Tippie professors and administrators to pivot quickly. This meant a lot of behind-the-scenes changes. Professors mastered teaching in the digital environment, which requires different lecturing skills and class preparation, and administrators worked to ensure across-the-board course consistency.

“During the pandemic, there was a huge demand for online education because people were stuck at home, and we wanted to meet that demand,” says Blackhurst. “But what we found out pretty quickly was that, even as things improved, students still wanted the convenience of online learning. They wanted to take high-quality courses and engage with top-notch professors, but they wanted to do it from home.”