More people than ever are enrolled in educational and vocational programs in the Ivy Tech Columbus region, which for the first time has surpassed 10,000 students.
“Really, really good news,” Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services Randy Proffitt reported during an Ivy Tech Columbus Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday at Moravec Hall. “If you look at the ’23-’24 academic year, our current headcount is 10,182,” he said, generating celebratory applause from trustees.
“It’s the first time the (Columbus) region, even when we were combined with the southeast, (enrollment) has ever reached five digits,” Proffitt said. The Columbus Ivy Tech region includes Bartholomew, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson and Shelby counties. Along with the main Columbus campus, the region includes satellite campuses in Franklin, Greensburg, North Vernon, Seymour and Shelbyville.
The record enrollment number includes a count of students enrolled in undergraduate programs, high school students taking dual credit programs, and those enrolled in skills training programs, Proffitt said.
Proffitt told trustees the enrollment number was well ahead of a goal of 9,953 for this academic year and significantly higher than the number studying in the Ivy Tech Columbus region time last year.
“We’re 7% over last spring … 275 headcount ahead of last year’s end-of-term number,” he said.
Looking to next year, Proffitt said the Columbus region is projecting enrollment of 10,274 students across all programs, and that based on current enrollment figures, the region is just 72 students short of reaching that goal.
One reason for the higher number is student retention from semester to semester. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jennifer Englert-Copeland told trustees that retention in the Columbus region has improved.
“Right now our fall-to-spring retention is at 76.4%. The statewide goal is 72%, so we’re above the statewide goal,” Englert-Copeland said. “We’re really pleased with that, and we’re really pleased across the state because retention across the state is 72.4%, which is the highest it’s been in a while.”
Proffitt and Ivy Tech Columbus Chancellor Steven Combs said several factors could be playing into the increasing student numbers in the region. One is that in recent years, the Columbus region absorbed Johnson and Shelby counties; the region formerly included less-populated Jefferson and Ripley counties in far southeast Indiana. Investment in facilities, including the recently completed Moravec Hall, and the addition of programs, including new aviation offerings at the Columbus campus, also likely are increasing interest.
Also, Combs said he has observed a “bounce” in enrollment after COVID. He sensed that since the pandemic, more people are pursuing opportunities to further their education or job skills.
“We don’t have data to back it up,” Proffitt said, “but I just think people are understanding the affordability, it’s a lot lower than the cost of higher education these days, so Ivy Tech’s obviously a great place to start, and move on … to the workforce or take those credits elsewhere to get their bachelor’s degree.”
