Ivy Tech’s enrollment increase creates need for new facility

After five years of enrollment increases, Ivy Tech Community College has surpassed the “mystical 5,000” mark for the fall semester, said John Whikehart, chancellor of the community college’s Bloomington campus. \nThis fall, 5,018 students enrolled in classes at the Bloomington campus of the college, according to a press release. The school’s enrollment has been steadily increasing over the last five years, but the school was initially not expected to hit the 5,000 student mark until 2011, Whikehart said. \nThe increased enrollment has forced the college to lease additional space to accommodate its students. Last March, the campus received permission from central administration to lease an 8,500 square foot facility on Liberty Drive in Bloomington, located a short distance away from the main campus. \n“We have a great relationship with Rural Transit,” Whikehart said. “They’ll be transferring students to and from the building throughout the day.” \nNinety-four course sections will be held in the new building, which was remodeled to create seven new classrooms, Whikehart said.\nThough the building is leased for several years to come, plans are already in place to accommodate the continued increases in enrollment expected in the next few years. Further down the road will be “Phase Two” construction which is likely to begin in 2009, Whikehart said. \n“We are going to break ground on a new life sciences facility, which will have four additional computer labs and three classrooms,” Whikehart said. \nEnrollment has increased by a “double-digit percentage” every semester since it completed renovations to the Bloomington campus in 2002, Whikehart said. He said the campus’s close relationship with IU since then has been one factor in the growth of Ivy Tech. \n“Three hundred students are enrolled here and living in the IU residence halls,” Whikehart said. “We have 14 degrees and 400 credit hours that transfer, which has been a factor.” \nNumbers of students enrolling full-time are also up 11 percent, according to the press release. Whikehart attributes this change to the rising number of “traditional age” students enrolling at Ivy Tech. Fifty-five percent of students enrolled at the Bloomington campus of Ivy Tech this year are under the age of 24, a shift away from the past when the college catered mostly to “non-traditional” \nstudents. \nAlong with younger, full-time students comes an expectation of traditional student life, said Brian Newton, dean of enrollment services and student activities.\n“We’re seeing many more students between the ages of 18-25 and they have a different expectation of student life and student activities,” Newton said. “They want some of the same activities you’d get from a four-year institution.” \nDespite passing the 5,000 mark, Whikehart says Ivy Tech will continue to encourage enrollment growth. \n“The state of Indiana ranks 46th or 47th in the nation in terms of the number of residents with college degrees,” Whikehart said. “And we know that for first generation college students and in many cases minority students, their access to education is through community colleges systems. So we have a responsibility to grow.”