New state law enrollment quotas on Indiana’s public university degree programs could have a large impact on regional campuses and lead to the elimination of some degree programs.
At the session’s end last month, GOP lawmakers added the quotas to House Bill 1001, the state budget bill, approved and signed by Gov. Mike Braun last month.
The addition received little public scrutiny until a story appeared recently in the Indianapolis Star.
Universities with degree programs that fall under the quotas for three consecutive years must request permission from the Commission for Higher Education to continue them.
Those quotas include an average enrollment of 15 or more for three consecutive years in bachelor degree programs, 10 students in associate degree programs, 7 students in master’s programs and 3 in educational specialist and doctorate degree programs.
In 2023, the number of Hoosiers with college degrees ranked 43rd in the nation, while studies cite more educated citizens lead to stronger state economies. Some educators worry the quota law will lower the state’s attainment rate even more.
According to data in the Star’s recent story, 76% percent of bachelor degree small enrollment programs at IU Northwest in Gary and 53% of bachelor degree small enrollment programs at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond and Westville could be affected.
The data calculations came from the National Center for Education Statistics as compiled by DATA USA based on 2022 or 2003 data.
Future data tracking from the Center could be in peril. In February, the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, terminated $900 million in contracts in the U.S. Department of Education including the National Center for Education Statistics.
State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said regional campuses like IU Northwest and PNW don’t draw as many students as their main campuses do to always support enrollments of 15 or above.
Smith is also an education professor at IU Northwest, although he’s announced his retirement effective at the end of May.
“Often we have to offer independent studies and use adjuncts in those classrooms to keep costs down,” he said.
“They don’t understand what we have to do to meet the needs of the students in our area,” Smith said of Republicans who control the General Assembly.
“I think the system is not broken. It’s because they have all this power and they are control freaks,” Smith said. “Their argument was less government and now they’re in everything.”
Republican lawmakers defended the quotas saying they’ll lead to better efficiencies on campuses.
Officials at Indiana and Purdue universities didn’t respond to email requests for comment.
Sources, however, say the quotas triggered concern across university campuses.
A recent social media post by a member of PNW’s Social Work Club alerted students to the new law. The post stated PNW’s new social work bachelor program averaged 13 students from 2021 to 2023, leaving it in jeopardy.
The post urged students to send testimonials to the Commission on Higher Education.
PNW’s bachelor in social work program has been accredited by the Council on Social Work Education until 2031. Graduates are eligible for state licensures as social workers in the job field that shows increased employment projections of 7%.
Several STEM, or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, programs at IU Northwest could also be in jeopardy. They include biology, biochemistry, computer and information sciences, engineering and math, radiation therapy and informatics.
PNW degree programs with smaller numbers include computer engineering, electrical engineering, general chemistry and physics, history and math.
Braun, who appoints 12 members of the 14-member Higher Commission board, supports the enrollment review process.
Griffin Reid, spokesman for Braun, said in an email:
“This provision ensures our state-funded universities are preparing future college graduates for professional success with degrees that are in demand in Indiana. Universities will be able to request (the state) continue degree programs that fall below this threshold and are of specific interest to the state.”
The next meeting of the Commission for Higher Education is July 10.
Bill Hanna, executive director of the Dean and Barbara White Foundation, represents Northwest Indiana although his current term expires June 30.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.