Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland Students Win Retirement Essay Competition

Groups of students from John Hopkins Carey Business School and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County won the iOme Challenge last week. One team offered policy proposals on how to equitably reform Social Security and the other suggested moving the U.S. to universal individual retirement accounts from the existing employer-based retirement savings system. 

The challenge, sponsored by the TIAA Institute and the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, is designed to raise awareness about financial security in retirement and give young people a voice in shaping retirement policy, according to TIAA. 

Student teams across the country participate in the annual challenge, and the winning teams receive a $5,000 prize and are invited to present their ideas at a symposium with policymakers on Capitol Hill. 

The challenge involves answering the annual iOme Challenge question in essay form, in no longer than 5,000 words. Students from all academic disciplines were encouraged to participate.  

Following the symposium in Washington, D.C., students can network with policy professionals and staff from Capitol Hill and executive agencies to learn more about their work.  

The winning team’s faculty adviser also wins a $1,500 prize and is also invited to D.C. 

This year’s challenge question asked student teams to assume that Congress appointed them as a member of the “2024 Independent Commission on Retirement Security” and to develop a proposal to improve upon one or all three pillars of the nation’s retirement system: Social Security, employer-sponsored plans and personal savings. The proposal needed to include specific policies that would target the needs and challenges of specific population segments that the commission should prioritize.   

The deadline for submissions was May 12, and the essay symposium was held on June 20.  

According to TIAA, some professors have found it works well to incorporate the iOme Challenge into their course work for the second semester or offer it as an extra credit project. In past years, campus clubs have also formed teams to participate. Small teams and teams of one are accepted, as well. 

From John’s Hopkins, the winners were Xenia Afoakwah, Emmanuel Animashaun, Di Han, Deanna Portero, Roy Randen and Cira Sun. Their winning essay can be found here. From the University of Maryland, the winners were Peter Wilschke, Arvind Kuruvilla and Matthew Dyson. Their winning essay can be found here. 

You can learn more about the iOme Challenge here.