Bloomington's Ivy Tech enrollment up

H-T Report
June 20, 2007

Ivy Tech-Bloomington keeps on growing — all year round. Officials announced Tuesday that campus enrollment this summer was up 10.9 percent from the summer of 2006.

The growth reinforces the fact that Ivy Tech soon will need to expand its facilities, Chancellor John Whikehart said in a news release. “Our continued growth, while exciting, is bringing the need for an additional facility to the forefront,” he said.

Some 2,155 students are enrolled at Ivy Tech for the summer term that runs through Aug. 4, officials said. Full-time equivalent enrollment is up 10.8 percent from last year. Both the number of students enrolled and the credit hours they’re taking are records.

Last fall, enrollment at the campus was 4,570, putting a strain on the Ivy Tech campus that opened just five years ago.

The state Legislature this year appropriated $350,000 for architectural and engineering work to prepare for an expansion of the campus, but construction is likely several years away. The Indiana Center for the Life Sciences, planned by the Monroe County Redevelopment Commission to be constructed adjacent to Ivy Tech, also could ease the space crunch.

In the meantime, Whikehart said, the college may have to start leasing off-site space this fall for classrooms and offices.

Ivy Tech-Bloomington is one of 23 campuses of Ivy Tech Community College. It offers work-force training, professional certificates and two-year associate’s degrees. Increasingly, it is providing credits and programs that transfer toward four-year degrees at Indiana University and other institutions