AIB College of Business will be merging with the University of Iowa if it is approved by the Board of Regents. The current AIB building will become a Des Moines campus for the University of Iowa. University of Iowa is expected to take over on July 1, 2016.

AIB announced Feb. 5 that they will not enroll new students in the fall. Students planning to transfer from AIB to University of Iowa will have to go through the admission process.

Senior Zach Walker found out about the merge through the news. “I’ve been working with some other people and we’ve been trying to get the inside scoop on what the media doesn’t know,” Walker said.

Walker had been planning to go to AIB for awhile. “I’ve been wanting to go since sophomore year, mainly because of the internships and close relationships they had with business in Des Moines,” Walker said.

Walker was planning to go to AIB for Business Administration and now will go to Grand View for the same major. The merge was a surprise to everyone involved. “Nobody really saw it coming, faculty, students, nobody knew what was happening,” Walker said. “Even the administration didn’t have any answers and still don’t have all the answers which is really frustrating.”

Walker was upset, confused and frustrated when he heard about the announcement. “It was made prematurely and they didn’t handle any of the student or faculty concerns with any sense of urgency,” Walker said.

Senior Sergio Alaniz planned to go to AIB to play baseball. “I was going to go there to continue my baseball career and major in sports management,” Alaniz said.

Alaniz enjoyed the direction in which the program was moving. “Their baseball program had only been in place for two years and in those two years they were very successful,” Alaniz said. “They placed top three in their division both times.”

The announcement that AIB was merging with Iowa also came as a surprise to Alaniz. “I felt angry and upset,” Alaniz said. “When you have a plan set out for your future and something bad happens it’s kind of frustrating.” He  is now planning to go to Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls.

Alaniz tries to look at the merge in a positive light. “I look at the whole situation like maybe this was a good thing that happened,” Alaniz said. When Alaniz goes to Ellsworth he will be able to play baseball with his cousin who is from Kansas City. “We grew up playing together and to continue to play with him is something that is pretty cool,” Alaniz said.

AIB was unable to respond to numerous phone calls.