Last week’s news regarding the future of local higher education in Columbus was a study in contrasts.
The good news: Ivy Tech’s new $32 million main campus building will be named for local businessman, entrepreneur and longtime Ivy Tech champion Tony Moravec.
The bad news: IUPUC announced a “restructuring” in the face of declining enrollment that will cost an undisclosed number of staff members their jobs.
Normally a headline for one school doesn’t necessarily have implications for the other. But that’s not quite the case for Ivy Tech Columbus and IUPUC.
The two institutions share not just proximity, but also facilities at the Columbus Learning Center. They also share a common mission: Offering high-quality, relevant educational programs to improve the quality of life for students and the broader community.
Those efforts will be boosted for both institutions with the new 80,000-square-foot building for Ivy Tech that will bear Moravec’s name. The building will replace aging Poling Hall and will serve as an entryway to the Learning Center and Columbus AirPark.
In addition to upgrading a facility that served the campus well for nearly 40 years, Moravec Hall also promises to be an engaging and enriching facility connecting the campus to the wider community.
“I can’t wait until we step into Moravec Hall in less than a year,” Ivy Tech Columbus Chancellor Steven Combs said at a ceremony last week announcing the naming of the building.
Meanwhile, IUPUC’s restructuring will impact the local division of Indiana University and how it advises students. Last week, Vice Chancellor and Dean Reinhold Hill announced a planned restructuring in a “Dear Colleagues” letter.
Some of those colleagues — neither Hill nor IU have yet to say how many — are now ex-colleagues because of the restructuring. IU confirmed a “small reduction of force effective Nov. 1.”
IUPUC faces declining enrollment and the impact that has on budgets, but the drain of students has been startling. According to IUPUC, the number of undergraduate and graduate students at the local campus has declined in the past two academic years a whopping 25%, from 1,411 students in the 2019-2020 school year to a current enrollment of 1,059.
Declining enrollment, too, has been a challenge for Ivy Tech Columbus in recent years.
These are worrisome trends that needs careful immediate study. The schools should begin by surveying students, particularly those who opted out.
Part of this is demographics. Higher education enrollment overall has declined to the lowest point in a decade because of a birth-rate decline: there are simply fewer people graduating high school. That is a trend that will be with us for years to come.
Part of the problem, in IUPUC’s case at least, is a greater number of students are enrolling at Indiana University Bloomington. The university said its incoming class was 20 percent larger in 2021 than it was a year earlier.
The naming of Moravec Hall marks a proud moment for Ivy Tech Columbus, for the community, and certainly as a well-earned honor for its namesake.
But it also comes at a time when Ivy Tech and IUPUC have some homework to do to determine how best to fulfill their mission of service to students and the community.
