Tuition rates increase at colleges every year. This increase makes it harder and harder for students to finance their education. Ivy Tech is taking steps to make going to college a possibility for everyone with their new Ivy+ Plan. This new plan includes free textbooks and frozen tuition rates.
Ivy+ freezes tuition rates at $149.55 per credit hour this year and will be $19 per credit hour for the 2022-2023 academic year.
“This year we are using HEERF [Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund] money to cover the textbooks for this year for our students,” said Aco Sikoski, Chancellor for Ivy Tech Community College; Valparaiso, Michigan City, and La Porte. “Next year we are going to charge $19 per credit hour. The majority of courses are three college credits, and, if we are charging $19 per credit that’s going to become $57 per course for academic year ‘22-‘23.”
Ivy Tech’s rate of $149.55 per credit hour is already the lowest in Indiana. Its choice to lower tuition further demonstrates its commitment to accessibility.
“The average student is paying $59 per credit, and our students will be paying less than that for a full course,” Sikoski said.
Free textbooks are another way to encourage young people to seek higher education.
“We found out, especially at Ivy Tech, our students, for a couple of reasons, they are not buying the textbooks on time and many of them are not even purchasing the textbooks at all,” said Sikoski. “Above 60% of our students do not have the right textbooks or material on day one of the semester.”
“Two years ago, we switched to eight-week sessions where students are completing courses in eight weeks,” Sikoski continued. “If students do not have the required textbooks on day one, and if they miss just one week, that is going to be very impactful for the success of that course.”
Ivy Tech’s concerns are not only limited to a student’s academic success. Ivy+ can help with a student’s ability to focus on their schooling and ability to care for themselves and their families.
If a student is unable to pay for their textbooks or schooling their options are to pick up more hours at work, live within a smaller budget, or, the most dreaded, drop out. If a student works too much, it pulls time away from schooling and can cause students to be exhausted in the classroom. A student who begins to live within a smaller budget is not able to have as much fun in college—getting a pizza with a classmate is not a necessity, but interaction out of the classroom is where networking is done, and friendships are made. Living on a smaller budget also puts undue stress onto an individual and if a student has a family to take care of, the money might not be able to budge. Dropping out of college is often the sad end of a student’s academic career.
Ivy Tech does not want to force any student to do any of these if they do not want, or have, to do so.
“We’ve wanted to do these kinds of things for some time. But when the students were taking courses at home and virtual, really helped us speed up the process for Ivy+ to come to fruition.”
Ivy Tech’s year began on August 18, but their second eight-week course session begins on October 20.
For more information about enrollment or Ivy+, please call (219) 476-4701 or https://www.ivytech.edu/tuition/. Apply for an upcoming session at valparaiso-admissions@ivytech.edu.
