Ivy Tech planning $96M South Bend campus expansion

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Ivy Tech Community College officials are drafting a $96 million plan for a series of expansions at its crowded and growing South Bend campus.

The proposal includes a large addition, a student life center and other improvements that would nearly double Ivy Tech's current 258,000 square feet, the South Bend Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/XwbqYk ). The plans would need the approval of state officials, funding from the General Assembly and a significant community fundraising drive.

Work is under way on a $4.7 million expansion and renovation, which will add a full-service campus cafeteria, double the size of the campus bookstore and provide space for student organizations and other activities. Future plans include three-story additions to the existing Ivy Tech building for classrooms and laboratories and a $19 million campus Life Center that would include gym and fitness space, an auditorium and child-care center.

"We want to heighten our visibility," Ivy Tech North Central Chancellor Thomas Coley said. "We want to help people know we're here and what we do."

The number of students enrolled at the South Bend campus was 3,151 in fall 2000, six months after the new campus opened, according to college enrollment records. Enrollment reached a high of 5,518 in fall 2011, and then dropped to 5,090 this fall.

Moving ahead with expansion would require backing from community residents, including a significant local fundraising campaign, Coley said.

"We are counting on some state funding, but we realize we'll have to do some level of local fundraising," Coley said. No specific goal for community fundraising has been set.

The building projects are proposed for between 2015 and 2023.

Coley said the campus needs more space to provide for growth in health care programs. The college currently uses space at Memorial Hospital for its respiratory care program, and wants to move that program to campus.

There also is great demand from area manufacturers for training current and future employees, Coley said.

"We don't have the space to do it," he said. "If we had the space, we could do it more cost effectively than employers could."
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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com