WGU Touts Graduation Record, Economic Impact

With the largest-ever graduating class in the books for WGU Indiana, Chancellor Allison Barber says the university continues to be a "brain gain" for the state. More than 1,200 Hoosiers earned degrees over the last year from Indiana’s online university. Barber says of the nearly 4,000 that have graduated since the school launched six years ago, 98 percent still live in the state.

She tells Inside INdiana Business WGU Indiana’s economic impact is significant. "It’s in millions of dollars already," she says. "Our graduates are staying here and they’re working in better-paying jobs and they’re working in full-time, where prior to WGU Indiana, several of them were in part-time jobs."

Barber says the first commencement in 2010 included seven graduates, but the school has grown by double digits every year. She adds the school is designed for working adults. "In Indiana alone, 750,000 Hoosiers have some college, but didn’t finish their bachelor’s degree. Usually for good reasons, they got a job, they had children, they had a family, but what we know in our state is that if you want to be successful in your career, over half of the jobs in Indiana require a bachelor’s degree."

The school has four colleges: business, information technology, health care and education and she says "all four of those colleges are targeted toward the work force needs in our state."

WGU Indiana has over 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs and more than 4,700 students are currently enrolled.