NEW ALBANY — Efforts to address a declining enrollment at Indiana University Southeast were among the key points of Acting Chancellor Kathryn Girten’s campus update.
The 2021 State of the Campus took place Friday at IUS. The talk focused on both the strengths and needs of the IUS campus, as well as the challenges caused by the pandemic.
Girten began her leadership of the IUS campus this summer.
This fall, the head count is 4,051 students enrolled at IUS, a 13% drop compared to last fall, which will result in future budget cuts for the campus. There has also been a significant decrease in credit hours, which are down 15.7% from last fall.
“There are likely a couple factors operating here that are pertinent to this drop in headcount,” Girten said. “Of course, this is a continuation of a pattern that we have seen for quite a few years, and of course, we are seeing the impact of COVID, which is affecting campuses all over the country, particularly regional campuses like us.”
Positive trends include the increase in diversity on campus, Girten said, and students of color represent about 19% of the student population, which is a record share for IUS. Of overall student enrollment, 15% are graduate students.
In terms of undergraduate student retainment, 76.9% were retained for a second term last year compared to 80.1% in 2019, and 63.7% were retained for a second year compared to 61.7% in 2019. The official retention numbers for this fall are not yet available, but Girten said COVID-19 has likely complicated retention of students.
Factors such as the university’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement may have affected retention for students who did not want to get the vaccine, but she said “we’ll take that, because safety is paramount.”
Girten said budget reductions are one of the long-term consequences of decreases in enrollment, and according to preliminary projections, IUS may see budget cuts of about $2.5 million for fiscal year 2023.
“As chancellor, I’m responsible for ensuring the long-term financial health of our campus,” she said. “With enrollment looking as it does, it will have a long-term impact beyond one year, and we do have to be cognizant of that fact.”
Girten said IUS will have to “be judicious about our spending and we will be scrutinizing any hiring requests very carefully as these are long-term commitments.”
IUS has received $22.4 million in the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) since May of 2020, and it has spent $16 million. Of those funds, $7 million was given to students for financial aid, and about $9 million was used for institutional purposes related to the pandemic, including reimbursements for pandemic-related lost revenue and COVID-19 testing supplies and staffing reimbursements.
The remain $6.4 million in HEERF funding will be spent by next June.
“This funding has been a tremendous help to our students as well as to the campus, but we have to remember it is one-time funding, and when it’s gone it’s done,” she said.
One of the topics at Friday’s address was a recent “campus portrait” survey from faculty, staff and the board of advisors.
“What I will say what I learned from reading these comments is that it’s obvious that the campus has been going through some tough times, but there’s a lot of pride in the many things that we do so well,” Girten said.
Some of the key strengths highlighted in survey included a strong team of faculty and staff, affordability and a “student-centered” environment, Girten said.
Marketing the campus, creating a stronger community presence, strengthening connections with Kentucky and strengthening diversity efforts at IUS were some of the areas identified for improvement.
The marketing function at IUS has partnered with the admissions division to bring in new students, and the campus is planning for additional marketing initiatives moving forward, including work with IU Studios, the university’s marketing hub, to target the Kentucky area.
The university is also finalizing an agreement with Ivy Tech Community College for a “dual admissions program” to “further cement that seamless transfer experience.”
“With this program, a student enrolled at Ivy Tech is admitted into IUS but doesn’t enroll in our courses until the student graduates from Ivy Tech with an associate’s degree,” Girten said. “But the key element of the program is this enhanced cooperative advising and transition support services.”
In fall of 2022, the campus will be introducing 20 to 25 learning communities “to build belonging and student communities on campus,” Girten said.
IUS has also been visiting high schools for recruitment, and a campus open house for prospective students is scheduled for Oct. 23.
“We are working to ensure we are doing everything we can in the area of recruitment,” she said. “Equally important, we must increase the retention of students as they go through their university career to safeguard against our increased competition and the decline that we know we are seeing in college-going students.”
“And of course, it’s most important that our mission is to see our students succeed,” she said.
Girten said the campus has also changed its scholarship strategy to remain competitive, including a new scholarship for Kentucky students — if an incoming first year student from Kentucky received a Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) scholarship, IUS will match the scholarship.
The new Grenadier Gold automatic admissions scholarship will also be given to any admitted students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Girten said it has been “heartwarming to see students connect with faculty and staff from the start of the new academic year,” and she is happy to see that student organizations and activities are back in action after the disruption caused by the pandemic.
“These type of events really bring the life back to campus, and we have repeatedly heard from students about how happy and excited they are to be here,” Girten said.
She said she sees a “bright future” for the campus.
“We cannot sell ourselves short,” Girten said. “Coming in as a new person to IU Southeast, I’m continually impressed by everyone’s commitment to our students and to our communities.”
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