Girten addresses the declining IUS enrollment and looks to the future | news

0


[ad_1]

NEW ALBANY – Efforts to counter a decline in enrollment at Indiana University Southeast were among the key points of incumbent Chancellor Kathryn Girten’s campus update.

The State of the Campus 2021 took place on Friday at the IUS. The lecture focused on the strengths and needs of the IUS campus as well as the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Girten started running the IUS campus this summer.

There are 4,051 students enrolled at IUS this fall, a 13% decrease from last fall, which will result in future budget cuts for the campus. There was also a sharp drop in credit hours, down 15.7% from last fall.

“There are likely a couple of factors relevant to this drop in headcount,” said Girten. “Of course, this is a continuation of a pattern we’ve been observing for a number of years, and of course we’re seeing the impact of COVID affecting campuses across the country, especially regional campuses like us.”

Positive trends include the increase in diversity on campus, Girten said, and colored students make up about 19% of the student population, which is a record percentage for the IUS. 15% of the total enrollments are doctoral students.

In terms of undergraduate student stays, 76.9% were last year for a second semester compared to 80.1% in 2019 and 63.7% for a second year compared to 61.7% in 2019 keep. Official whereabouts numbers for this fall aren’t yet available, but Girten said COVID-19 likely made student retention difficult.

Factors like the university’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement may have influenced the retention of students who did not want to receive the vaccine, but she said, “We’ll take this because safety comes first.”

Girten said budget cuts were one of the long-term consequences of the decline in enrollments, and preliminary projections suggest that the IUS could see budget cuts of about $ 2.5 million for fiscal 2023.

“As Chancellor, I am responsible for ensuring the long-term financial health of our campus,” she said. “If enrollment looks the way it looks, it will have long-term effects beyond a year, and we need to be aware of that fact.”

Girten said IUS “needs to be careful with our spending and we will consider all recruitment requests very carefully as they are long-term commitments.”

IUS has received $ 22.4 million from the Federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) and spent $ 16 million as of May 2020. Of those funds, $ 7 million was given to student financial aid, and approximately $ 9 million was used for institutional purposes related to the pandemic, including reimbursements for pandemic-related lost revenue and COVID-19 testing materials and reimbursements for staff.

The remaining $ 6.4 million in HEERF funds will be spent through June next.

“This funding has been a tremendous help to both our students and the campus, but we have to remember that this is a one-time funding and when it’s gone it’s gone,” she said.

One of the topics of the Friday speech was a current “campus portrait” survey of lecturers, employees and the advisory board.

“What I learned from these comments is that it is obvious that the campus has had some tough times, but we are very proud of the many things we do so well,” said Girten.

Key strengths highlighted in the survey included a strong team of faculty and staff, affordability, and a “student-centric” environment, Girten said.

Marketing the campus, creating a stronger community presence, strengthening connections with Kentucky, and strengthening diversity efforts at the IUS were some of the areas where improvements were seen.

The IUS marketing function has teamed up with the admissions department to attract new students, and the campus has plans for additional marketing initiatives in the future, including working with IU Studios, the university’s marketing hub, to target the Kentucky area.

The university is also entering into an agreement with Ivy Tech Community College for a “dual admissions program” to “further cement this seamless transfer experience.”

“This program allows a student enrolled with Ivy Tech to be admitted to IUS, but will not enroll in our courses until the student has an associate degree from Ivy Tech,” said Girten. “But the key element of the program is these enhanced collaborative counseling and transition support services.”

In the fall of 2022, the campus will introduce 20 to 25 learning communities “to build affiliation and student communities on campus,” said Girten.

IUS has also visited high schools for recruitment purposes and an open house is scheduled for October 23rd on campus for prospective students.

“We’re working to do all we can in the area of ​​recruiting,” she said. “Equally important, we need to increase student retention throughout their university careers to protect against our increased competition and the decline we see in college students.”

“And of course, the most important thing is that our students are successful,” she said.

Girten said the campus also changed its scholarship strategy to stay competitive, including a new scholarship for Kentucky students.

The new Grenadier Gold automatic admissions scholarship is also granted to all admitted students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Girten said it was “heartwarming to see students connect with faculty and staff from the start of the new academic year,” and she is excited to see student organizations and activities resume after the disruption caused by the pandemic.

“These types of events really bring life back to campus, and we’ve heard repeatedly from students how happy and excited they are to be here,” said Girten.

She sees a “bright future” for the campus.

“We cannot sell ourselves short,” said Girten. “As a new person at IU Southeast, I am consistently impressed by everyone’s commitment to our students and our communities.”

[ad_2]

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.