Iowa students now majoring in insurance coverage classes

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – The University of Iowa has seen big success in its new ‘Risk Management and Insurance” program.

Iowa has had classes for insurance for decades, but students would only be able to obtain a certificate for completing the courses. In the last year, the school said it was ranked 8th in the country.

“I have one more to take next semester, and I am taking three currently,” said Will Eastman, an Iowa senior.

Eastman is one of 200 students currently taking part in the University of Iowa Tippie College of Finance ‘Risk Management’ major. Before this year, Eastman studied finance, but when he learned adding a second major would include 5 classes, he jumped at the opportunity. He plans to get into the health insurance field when he graduates next Spring.

“Everyone was jumping on it because of how easy and how good of a sale it is,” said Eastman.

Tippie School of Finance Professor Martin Grace said being ranked 8th in the country was a novelty this year – that next year would be the real test, but the program was something he said brings a lot more to the state of Iowa than people might think.

“In most states, the insurance industry is around 2% of the state’s economy, here, it’s five times that or more,” Grace said.

The new program comes at a time when some Iowans were starting to see insurance companies pulling out of the state of Iowa. We reported that 5 companies left Iowa last year due to losses of billions of dollars from storm damage. That included the 2020 derecho, which caused $10 billion in damage in Iowa.

“The whole world is having larger and larger claims because we live in more dangerous areas, more risky areas,” said Grace.

It’s challenges like this that Eastman said he had learned about and was ready to take to his new career when he graduates.

“A lot of us students were drawn in because we weren’t just talking about definitions and how auto or home insurance, we were talking about unique real-world problems that are happening now in current events,” said Eastman.

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