Ivy Tech spring enrollment increases 10 percent in year

As four-year college becomes more expensive and IU’s enrollment standards increase, many students are enrolling at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington.

For years, Ivy Tech has offered students classes that transfer to IU and other four-year colleges for a lower price.

IU accepts more than 100 courses from Ivy Tech, said Terry Knaus, IU senior associate director of admissions. Now more students than ever are planning to take many of their classes at Ivy Tech Bloomington – and Ivy Tech Bloomington’s spring enrollment increased 10 percent in the past year, according to a recent press release.

Sophomore Sam Sharp is majoring in social work and spent her freshman year at IU. When her student loans became unavailable, Sharp chose to remain in Bloomington for college and attend Ivy Tech Bloomington her sophomore year.

“I always wanted to go to IU,” Sharp said. “It’s the only college I applied to.”
But Sharp quickly found out that attending Ivy Tech Bloomington is not very different from going to IU.

“I do everything I did last year,” Sharp said. “The only difference is I drive to class instead of taking a bus.”

Knaus believes the main reasons why students from around the state choose to attend Ivy Tech Bloomington in hopes of transferring to IU are because they want a four-year bachelor’s degree and want to be in Bloomington because it’s a college town.

Ivy Tech’s tuition is about $2,300 less than IU’s per semester. Students can get a number of required classes out of the way there, such as K201, W131, finite math, psychology, speech and Spanish.

IU freshman Jordan Grogg spent her first semester attending classes at Ivy Tech through the Hoosier Link program while living in Shoemaker Hall in Briscoe Quad. Hoosier Link is a program that allows students to live on IU’s campus as freshmen while attending classes at Ivy Tech Bloomington and paying Ivy Tech tuition. Grogg chose to transfer into IU for the spring semester.

“I got tired of telling people that I go to Ivy Tech Bloomington,” Grogg said. “People think that going to Ivy Tech automatically means you’re stupid, and I didn’t want people to think I was stupid when I’m not.”

Sharp was also eligible to return to taking classes at IU during the spring semester, but she chose to remain at Ivy Tech Bloomington until spring 2010 because she finds classes there easier.

“If I can make all A’s at Ivy Tech and make them transfer, then I’ll boost my GPA there,” Sharp said.

Grogg said she has made a seamless transition into her classes this semester and is enjoying life at IU.

“It hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be,” Grogg said.

Sharp said she is looking forward to returning to classes at IU this fall.

Grogg and Sharp went to Ivy Tech Bloomington for different reasons, but each is happy to have saved money on tuition. Both are planning on graduating from IU on time with a bachelor’s degree.

“I’d advise students to take any classes they can at Ivy Bloomington,” Sharp said.