Published: September 05, 2009 10:59 pm         

Tribune-Star editorial: Indiana State gets college credit for enrollment

Indiana State University has reversed a troubling, protracted drop in its enrollment. Its faculty, staff and administration deserve credit for an increase in ISU’s student headcount this fall.

The university has 77 more students — 10,534 total — than a year ago. The boost is modest, but significant. It’s the first enrollment jump at ISU in seven years. Whatever triggered that decline — competition from lower-cost schools such as Ivy Tech, Vincennes University or the University of Southern Indiana; the lack of a clear niche in the state’s higher ed picture; or both — ISU has begun to restore its connection with potential students. Numbers are up this fall for students transferring to ISU, new freshmen and grad students.

That’s reassuring news in a community that counts on the university as one of its primary sources of employment, culture and talent.

Of course, the enrollment stabilization is only half the battle. ISU, like all other Indiana public institutions, needs to improve its graduation rate. In 2007, ISU’s four-year graduation rate for first-time, full-time students seeking a bachelor’s degree was 20 percent. When a six-year time span was considered, ISU’s graduation rate was 41 percent.

Research by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education indicates that Indiana needs 10,000 more bachelor’s degree graduates annually to compete in the international business world. ISU has responded with a pilot program, “Project Success,” in which selected incoming students visit campus for a week earlier in the year, before starting fall-semester classes. The university has also appointed a vice president for student success to develop programs to improve students’ chances of graduating.

The task is large, but goals for higher graduation rates should be set at lofty levels. President Daniel Bradley, upon taking over that role in 2008, set a high enrollment goal of 12,000-plus, just as ISU had in the 1980s. Likewise, a 50-percent, four-year graduation rate would mark a vast, but reasonable improvement.

We’re encouraged by this year’s enrollment increase, and by the steps taken by ISU to see more students pick up their diplomas. The Terre Haute community will benefit from a continued, aggressive pursuit of both objectives.