Challenges and Opportunities

2. Challenges and Opportunities • Indiana ranks 40thnationally in education attainment. • Indiana ranks 41st nationally in personal per capita income. • Indiana must fill nearly 1 million job vacanciesby 2018. Two-thirds of all new jobs will require postsecondary credentials by the end of this decade.

3. Challenges and Opportunities • Less than a third of Indiana four-year college studentsgraduate on time and just over half complete after six years. • Only 4 percent of Indiana two-year college students graduate on time and 12 percent complete after six years. • Earnings and employment rates for college graduates are nearly double that of high school graduates.

4. Challenges and Opportunities • Average college tuition and fees in Indiana have increased by more than 100 percent over the past decade. • Average debt load for Hoosier college students was $27,000 for a four-year degree in 2010, 8th highest in the U.S. • Indiana’s student loan default rate has increased by 35 percent over the past three years.

5. The Commission’s Role Drivingcollege completionandstudent successby: • Defining the missions of Indiana’s colleges and universities. • Coordinating Indiana’s higher education system, including student financial and college budget, degree program and construction requests. • Aligning Indiana’s system to meet the needs of Hoosier students and the state.

6. Reaching Higher, Achieving More Achieving More requires a higher education system that is: • Mission-driven • Student-centered • Workforce-aligned

7. Reaching Higher, Achieving More Achieving More requires an intense and sustained focus on: • Completion • Productivity • Quality

8. Meeting the Challenge • College Completion: • 50 percent on-time graduation at four-year campuses by 2018. • 25 percent on-time graduation at two-year campuses by 2018. • Degree Production: • Double the number of degrees/certificates produced by 2025. • Would increase annual production from 60,000 to 120,000 degrees. • Education Attainment: • Increase adult attainment to 45 percent by 2018. • Increase adult attainment to 60 percent by 2025.

10. Completion Priorities • Preparation: • A quarter of all Indiana public college students (and over 70 percent of community college students) require remediation. • Remediation Redesign: • Only one in four Indiana college students enrolled in remediation will earn a degree within six years. • Smarter Pathways: • Majority of Indiana college students are working, commuting to campus, and balancing family and job responsibilities.

11. Meeting the Challenge • Degree Completion: • Beginning in 2012, Indiana colleges will set campus-specific targets for increasing overall degree completion. • Remediation Success: • By 2018, Core 40 diploma graduates will not need remediation and adult students needing remediation will complete the subsequent gateway English or math course. • Student Persistence: • Beginning in 2012, Indiana colleges will set targets for increasing the percentage of two-year college students who complete 15, 30 and 45 credit hours and four-year college students who complete 30 and 60 credit hours.

13. Productivity Priorities • Performance Funding: • Sound funding methods align resources with priorities and objectives (i.e., completion, persistence and on-time graduation). • Student Incentives: • Financial incentives are effective motivators for students who are capable of graduating but are at risk of dropping out. • Continuous Efficiency: • Indiana higher education institutions must relentlessly pursue opportunities to create efficiencies.

14. Meeting the Challenge • On-time Completion: • Beginning in 2012, Indiana colleges will set campus-specific targets for increasing the percentage of students who earn degrees on time. • Cost Per Degree: • Beginning in 2012, Indiana colleges will set annual targets for improving the cost-per-degree ratio at their campuses. • Student Debt: • Beginning in 2012, Indiana colleges will set annual targets for improving the average student debt load at their campuses.

16. Quality Priorities • Learning Outcomes: • Indiana's higher education system lacks common measures of academic quality. • Innovative Models: • Indiana’s higher education system must enable students to learn at the time, place and pace that suits their goals and capabilities. • Return on Investment: • Ensuring the quality and value of college credentials is the most critical challenge in higher education today.

17. Meeting the Challenge • Learning Outcomes: • By 2015, Indiana colleges will implement a nationally benchmarked assessment of student learning and publicly report learning gains made from the time students enroll and graduate. • Transfer: • By 2013, Indiana colleges will adopt a statewide general education common core that transfers seamlessly between the state's higher education institutions. • Return on Investment: • Beginning in 2012, Indiana colleges will report their graduates' job placement rates, licensure rates and average annual earnings.