Indiana colleges continue with high enrollments

Indiana's colleges have continued to have strong enrollment figures even as they face millions of dollars in state funding cuts because of the recession.

Indiana University reported a record spring semester enrollment of nearly 99,000 students for its eight campuses around the state. That follows a record 107,000 students for last fall semester.

That trend is also seen at other schools around the state.

Indiana State University said its spring semester enrollment of 9,765 students is its most in four years. Ivy Tech Community College counted nearly 120,000 students, near 8.5 percent more than during the fall semester.

Gov. Mitch Daniels in December ordered a $150 million cut in state higher education funding since state tax revenues are far below expectations. That amounts to about 6 percent of state funding for their operating costs over the last 18 months of the two-year state budget.

The new enrollment figures show that IU's main campus in Bloomington had a spring enrollment topping 40,000 students for the first time. Of its 40,211 students, 30,422 were undergraduates.

The campus recorded a record fall enrollment of 42,347 students last September.
"The economic impact of a growing IU has a positive effect on Bloomington," said Roger Thompson, IU's vice provost for enrollment management. "This record growth helps not just the university but the community as a whole."

Preliminary figures showed spring semester enrollments up at six of its regional campuses, while IUPUI was down 0.2 percent to about 28,500 students.

Purdue University hasn't yet released spring enrollment figures, but its statewide 2009 fall semester enrollment was up more than 3 percent from a year earlier.