Budget cuts cost Ivy Tech $10 million

As a result of budget cuts ordered by Gov. Mitch Daniels, Ivy Tech Community College lowered per-student spending by 18 percent, despite a major increase in student enrollment this past year.

During the remaining 17 months of Indiana’s two-year budget cycle, Daniels ordered a $150 million cut in higher education spending due to the severe drop in state tax revenue. Budget cuts are being carried out by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to seven state university systems including Ivy Tech, Purdue, IU and Indiana State University.

Ivy Tech, which has the lowest operation expense per degree according to fiscal year 2008 data, received an overall 3.7 percent reduction for the budget cycle. Compared to the other schools in the state, Ivy Tech’s budget cut was less severe, which will help it accommodate for this year’s 33 percent increase in enrollment.

With more than 119,000 students registered for the spring semester, Ivy Tech has its highest enrollment ever. Nevertheless, the school would still lose .7 percent, or about $10 million, of its $350 million dollar budget during this fiscal year. 

Jeff Fanter, vice president for communications and marketing, said Ivy Tech is still enrolling students for fall 2010 despite budget losses.

“At this time we do not have plans to cap enrollment,” Fanter said, adding that they have an enrollment study committee reviewing the situation.

Ivy Tech’s major budget cut, combined with its record enrollment, is restricting the hiring of new teachers, as well as the number of classes that can be added to the school’s 23 campuses across the state.

Counseling and advising services and class registration will be limited as well, said Ivy Tech freshman Andrew Yurisich, finance director for the Ivy Tech Student Government Association.

“What you are going to see are longer lines at the bursar office, longer lines of people trying to register for classes and longer lines outside the financial aid office because there will not be as many people to help them,” Yurisich said.

Fanter said class registration competition will be greater because many popular classes and time slots fill up quickly.

“Many may get discouraged and leave because there are just are too many brick walls and too many obstacles,” Yurisich said.

Ivy Tech’s yearly tuition costs about $3,000. For students such as Yurisich, who is paying his way through college on a salary earned at a local gas station, tuition cost is key.

“We are committed to keeping our tuition affordable,” Fanter said. “More and more Hoosiers are seeing and understanding the value of the community college and how it offers degrees that result in good paying jobs and credits that transfer with an affordable tuition.”  

Yurisich said one aspect of Ivy Tech that won’t be affected by the new legislation is the funding that goes to student organizations. These funds come from credit hour payments, which enable organizations like the Student Government Association to pay their members.

The experience students receive at Ivy Tech is not as traditional as those offered at other universities, Yurisch said.

“Ivy Tech gives you the platform to improve yourself and it is a necessary pedestal for many,” he said.