The educator crunch

IU and Ivy Tech Community College came to an agreement last week on a new credit transfer deal. Credit transfer programs already exist for nursing, criminal justice and six liberal arts degrees. The new deal added elementary education to the list, allowing Ivy Tech students who have earned an associate’s degree in elementary education to be able to transfer those credits to IU.

The credit deal would allow such  students to attend IU for only two years before receiving a bachelor’s degree. Because attending Ivy Tech runs at about $3,000 per year and IU at about $8,000 for in-state residents, this deal would greatly reduce the cost of education, allowing students to replace two of the four years at IU, and their costs, with time at Ivy Tech. 

We agree with McRobbie’s decision.

IU is a public university. We enjoy an “affordable” education because unlike private universities, which are entirely funded by alumni donations and tuition, the state of Indiana in part subsidizes the costs of attending IU. Many Indiana taxpayers never use the University, but they still help fund it. Therefore, IU has an obligation to pay back the state and its taxpayers however it can.

Right now, Indiana is suffering from a shortage of teachers, a shortage that demands a change in the  way we train educators.

Unlike reducing home foreclosures, this is a state problem IU can help solve by churning out more teachers for the state. This partnership will obviously accomplish that because it lowers the costs for people to become certified to teach. 

However, we do need to keep teaching standards in mind and ask ourselves whether this deal will lower those standards. After all, giving the state lots of bad teachers certainly doesn’t help it. 

But that’s not a problem in this partnership.

Both transfer students from Ivy Tech and four year IU students have to take the same amount and type of classes. 

And for those pretentious souls worrying about whether or not Ivy Tech has classes with difficulties equivalent to those at IU, remember: Every student, including transfer students, as well as being required to take the same requisite courses, must also pass the same qualifying tests.

If Ivy Tech transfer students had gotten such an inferior education for two years, they wouldn’t be able to pass those tests in the first place.

Allowing education majors to transfer credits from Ivy Tech to IU offers a practical way to train more qualified educators for Indiana without diluting teaching standards.