IU to shut down School of Continuing Studies

After 36 years of service, the School of Continuing Studies will close its doors, IU President Michael McRobbie announced Wednesday.

“I think it will be detrimental,” Dean of the School of Continuing Studies Daniel Callison said. “It’s the president’s decision; he has to weigh different options. I’m not pleased with the decision, but I’m also not pleased with the cut in state funding in general.”
With the eight IU campuses facing a combined decrease of $9.1 million in state funds for the 2011-12 academic year, closing the school will help counteract the loss and limit the need for a tuition increase.

Gov. Mitch Daniels signed Indiana’s biennial budget into law May 10, which will cut more than $10 million from IU-Bloomington state funds. It is expected that closing the School of Continuing Studies will save as much as $4 million, according to an IU press release.

President McRobbie appointed a presidential committee to examine IU’s academic offerings, and in April, the committee released the New Academic Directions Report, said Larry MacIntyre, assistant vice president for University Communications.
One of the report’s conclusions was that there were duplications in some of the University’s efforts, including courses offered through the School of Continuing Studies.

“So they discussed that with President McRobbie, and, as you know, President McRobbie is very busy trying to find ways to reduce costs and save money without harm to the academic program,” MacIntyre said, “and his conclusion was that this would save money but it would also save all the academic opportunities for students.”

About 4,000 undergraduate students from across the state are currently involved in the school’s programs, which include opportunities for degree completion through evening and online course offerings as well as non-degree and continuing education programs for adults.

The number of students who participate in the programs has increased from eight to 10 percent in the last three or four years, Callison said. But, while the school is closing, the programs will still be offered.

Currently, the School of Continuing Studies is housed on the Bloomington campus, but undergraduate students can choose programs through the school at any of IU’s eight campuses. With the closing of the school, the programs will be dispersed to different schools across all IU campuses.

“Our services are provided primarily at a distance,” Callison said, “but we will find homes for them on the Bloomington campus or other campuses over the coming year.”
A seven-person committee, led by Executive Vice President and Provost Karen Hanson, will form a plan to distribute the programs and close the school by June 30, 2012.

Callison said he plans on working with the committee to establish the best plan possible, and he anticipates new opportunities for services they have not been able to previously provide.

— Bailey Loosemore