Ivy Tech enrollment up 13.9% in Madison

Madison Courier staff report

Nearly 14 percent more students are enrolled for the spring semester at Ivy Tech Community College's Madison campus than for the spring semester last year.

College-wide, the head count was up 14.2 percent over the spring semester last year when classes started Monday, with all of the 14 Ivy Tech campuses reporting increases. The total enrollment Monday statewide was 90,627, which was 11,261 more students than a year ago, Ivy Tech said in a press release.

At the Madison campus, 1,116 students were enrolled, a 13.9 percent increase.

Many students attend Ivy Tech part time. When the total credit hours are converted to a full-time equivalent, which is how many full-time students it would take to be enrolled in the number of hours, the Madison campus' growth was 17.2 percent.

"It is very clear that people are recognizing that further education will best position them to be competitive in today's workforce," Ivy Tech Community College President Thomas J. Snyder said in a press release. "Our affordability is making higher education accessible to more and more Hoosiers. Our students are taking advantage of our transfer programs with our four-year partners and also taking the degrees and certificates they earn at Ivy Tech to succeed in today's workplace."

The full-time equivalent at all the campuses combined was 51,349 on the first day of the spring semester, a 15 percent increase.

Ivy Tech officials predicted that the full-time equivalency will reach 53,600 this year, which is 7,000 more than was used in the state funding calculations, the college said.