Ivy Tech Board Outlines Funding Targets
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe board of trustees at Ivy Tech Community College has approved a plan to request new funding from the General Assembly and Indiana Commission for Higher Education. The proposal includes additional academic advisors, full-time faculty and equipment. Ivy Tech is slated to make its initial biennial budget request in October. August 11, 2014
News Release
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Ivy Tech Community College's State Board of Trustees has approved a resolution asking the College's leadership to make specific new line item requests as part of its biennial budget submission to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (CHE) and Indiana General Assembly. The Board of Trustees urged favorable consideration for new requests for additional academic advisors, full-time faculty and equipment.
“We know the importance of partnering with the state in order to achieve the goals it has set forth in the recently released Career Council strategic plan. Those goals focus on system alignment, worker-and student- centric services and demand-driven programs and investments,” Ivy Tech President Thomas J. Snyder said. “These are the three pillars of transformation according to the plan and precisely align with our mission as the state's community college.” (The Indiana Career Council strategic plan Align, Engage, Advance: A Strategic Plan to Transform Indiana's Workforce can be found at http://www.in.gov/icc/2377.htm)
The resolution sited the fact that the state of Indiana ranks 41st in the nation in educational attainment and has been ranked in the bottom ten in the country for over three decades and the state’s attainment ranking is the lowest amongst Big Ten states and has increased by only one percent over the last four years. The number of Indiana residents holding an Associate degree has increased by over 26,000 from 2010 to 2012 as compared to an increase of just over 11,000 for those holding a Bachelor's degree.
“It is clear that Ivy Tech Community College is the institution of higher education that will impact the state's attainment levels the most over the next decade and is the main driver as Indiana strives to reach the Big Goal attainment levels,” Snyder said. “Ivy Tech continues to provide the greatest return on investment amongst institutions of higher education, and as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, our graduates, on average, out earn graduates of all other institutions of higher education in the state their first year in the workforce.”
As has been reported in the past Ivy Tech's performance under the CHE's performance funding formula has been excellent, yet the College remains the lowest funded institution in the state at just over $1,200 per student which is over $11,000 less per student than the highest funded school and over $3,000 less than select regional campuses. The College has stated that the lack of funding has resulted in Ivy Tech being forced to defer the hiring of additional full time advisors and full time faculty along with the purchasing additional training equipment. The amount deferred is estimated at over $83 million. The current ratio of students per full-time advisors is 1,000 to 1, and currently only 23 percent of the faculty are full-time, putting Ivy Tech in the bottom 10th percentile in the country in the number of full-time faculty on staff.
The College will make its initial budget request presentation to the CHE in early October.
Ivy Tech Community College is the state's largest public postsecondary institution and the nation's largest singly accredited statewide community college system serving nearly 200,000 students annually. Ivy Tech has campuses throughout Indiana. It serves as the state's engine of workforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.
Source: Ivy Tech Community College