SOUTH BEND — Facing declining enrollment and a $2.6 million budget deficit, Ivy Tech Community College this week told a dozen employees in the north central region they are being laid off.
"We've had to make some very tough decisions. We've tried to do it in a careful way," regional Chancellor Thomas Coley said in an interview Wednesday.
The 12 employees include three full-time administrators, one full-time faculty member, six full-time staff members and two part-time staff members. Coley did not release their names or titles.
The layoffs represent 3 percent of Ivy Tech's 382 employees in the region, which includes campuses in South Bend, Elkhart County and Warsaw.
Eleven of the employees work at the South Bend campus, and one works at the Elkhart County campus. Most of the laid off employees will leave in May as the semester ends.
To save additional expenses, some vacant positions — including three in Warsaw — will not be filled, Coley said.
No degree or training programs will be cut, he said.
Coley also oversees Ivy Tech's northwest region, which includes campuses in Michigan City, Valparaiso, Gary and East Chicago. A total of 31 employees in the northwest region are being laid off, including eight administrators, five faculty members, 15 full-time staff members and three part-time staff members. That region is larger than the north central region.