Ivy Tech Community College – Columbus is seeing an increase in enrollment compared to 2022.
Randy Proffitt, vice chancellor for enrollment services, said that as of Feb. 2, the enrollment headcount for the Columbus service area was 2,475, which is a 9.42% increase over last year.
“This will grow even further as we continue to add dual credit students and offer another starting point in March,” he said. “Last year, at end of term, we were at 2,362.”
When asked about factors that may have contributed to enrollment, Director of Marketing Chris Schilling pointed to the development of facilities such as Moravec Hall, the new main building for the Columbus campus.
“There was a lot of buzz generated around a new facility for Ivy Tech,” he said. “And really from that buzz, the community gets a reminder of what we offer here at Ivy Tech; the hands-on learning and career-focused learning that we provide students. So just kind of a renewed interest in the college here in Bartholomew County and here in our surrounding service area.”
He added that they’re also further developing the Franklin campus with more hands-on labs, including the Advanced Manufacturing Lab, which serve to attract students.
The Ivy Tech-Columbus service area currently includes the Bartholomew, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Shelby and Johnson counties. Shelby and Johnson were added to the service area in 2021.
“Those are definitely adding to the enrollment, especially having a more dedicated site in each county,” said Schilling. “The Franklin site is a campus that offers full programming — nursing, advanced manufacturing, we have IT classes there.”
He also noted that the Advantage Shelby County program helps boost enrollment numbers as well.
Advantage Shelby County is a two-year scholarship program “specifically aimed at raising educational attainment and workforce readiness.” It is a partnership between the city of Shelbyville, Shelby County and Ivy Tech. The program provides scholarship funds to Shelby County students to cover tuition costs not met by state, federal or institutional aid. In return, students are required to either perform 10 hours of community service per semester or “fulfill a program work requirement” with a Shelby County company.
Still, Schilling said that he believes enrollment would be on the rise even without the addition of these areas.
While spring enrollment showed an increase over the past year, there could still be a ways to go before headcounts return to pre-pandemic levels. Proffitt provided the following statistics regarding fall enrollment from the last couple of years:
- Fall of 2019: 3,143
- Fall of 2020: 2,890
- Fall of 2021: 2,708
- Fall of 2022: 2,701
Schilling said that fall enrollment is generally higher than that of spring, and enrollment for the current semester is still underway. Additionally, these fall figures do not include dual credit, which Proffitt believes has increased each fall term from 2020 to 2022.
Another wrinkle is that since Shelby and Johnson were added to Ivy Tech-Columbus’s service area in 2021, comparing enrollment figures before and after that change is not a one-to-one comparison.
When asked if he thought enrollment was starting to rebound post-pandemic, Schilling said that college officials are seeing more students return to continue their education.
“Obviously the world was a lot different then (pre-pandemic), and more than just the pandemic,” he said. “A lot of different factors affected enrollment then as well. So each year is kind of a case-by-case basis, but we’re happy to see that the enrollment is trending up and that we’re able to serve our communities, and residents are taking advantage of all we have to offer here.”
