else that he may have done. I'm convinced that he's not guilty of these murders. However else you may feel about it is entitled to justice. You two believe I will. >> Hello everyone. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. Good morning. Welcome.
Welcome to uh welcome to our first meeting of 2026 uh Indiana Commission for Higher Education. It's my pleasure to call this meeting to order and uh I will ask our secretary, Secretary Kramer to uh call
the role and ensure we have >> Mike Alli present. Dennis Bland >> present. >> Kathy Cabelloo >> present. >> Ted Casper. >> John Fischer >> present. >> Samantha Flasher >> present.
>> Larry Garoni >> here. >> Bill Hannah >> present. Nancy Jordan >> here. >> Holly Kitel >> here. >> Ed Kramer is here. Pepper Milair >> present.
>> Dan Peterson and here. >> I'm the highest. Yeah, he is the last one. >> the middle. So, okay. Well, wonderful. Thank you very much, Kent. Um, I would now like to
ask everyone to join me in standing and uh pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the United States and >> America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice. >> Very good. Thank you very much. So we will start today's meeting with the approval of the agenda which you should see in front of you in your packets. I would entertain a motion for
approval of the agenda. >> Second. Thank you and thank you. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. I. >> Okay. Very good. Um, you all have copies of the minutes from our November 2025 meeting in front of you for approval. I
would also uh entertain a motion for approval of those minutes. >> So move. >> So moved. >> Thank you. Second. Any Thank you. Any comments, corrections, questions? >> Okay. Hearing none. All in favor, please say I.
>> I. I. >> Oppose. Same. Very good. >> Well, I have a couple of comments, but I'm going to be brief. Um, again, welcome to our first meeting as we kick off the year. looking forward to a a great year ahead of us and thank you all
for your commitment to education in Indiana, specifically higher education in Indiana and beyond. So, I want to thank IvyTech, uh, Dr. Polio, um, Daniel J for your hosting our breakfast this morning. Thank you for being here. We
look forward to, we're actually going to hear later this morning from the Hamilton County campus chancellor, Rachel Clarks. Um, and look forward to that here in a little bit. Um I believe there the topic is utilizing AI to impact student success which is
obviously a super uh relevant topic. Um in fact yesterday I was I watched the uh the House Education and Workforce Committee uh in DC held their first hearing on the use of AI in education course issues specifically in education
K12 and higher ed and uh if you get a chance it was interesting. obsessive legislative comments, one thing, but the the four witnesses that were on were all really really good and very insightful uh around how AI is evolving and how we
need to prepare people for the use of AI not whether it's going to be here or not it is as we all know it's already here so how do we best prepare people to uh to use it well use it wisely use it safely and that sort of thing so um a very point of time I will also say
there. It's not a coincidence that a lot of us are wearing red. It's >> our commissioner was the one who I thought did a great job of of advocating for this >> thing. All told to wear red and as a as a IU grad, it was
>> super exciting. So, I think there's a lot of distraction right now around uh I I don't think I've ever heard the word surreal. maybe in context maybe once every three or four years. I think I hear it every other day uh over the last
couple of months because of IU football. So, um I'm stressed. Uh I've also got a daughter in right about going into labor. She's due tomorrow. So, I got a bunch of stuff. My first grand. So, she's gone through
>> while she fights through those early contraptions. So, So, that's enough for me to check, but appreciate you all everyone. Appreciate you all you do and uh appreciate you being here. So, I'll turn it over to uh >> our commissioner for hours.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Uh well, for those uh commission members that I did not get to to say wear red, I'm certain that you're still a huge Indiana fan at least on Tuesday uh or or sorry,
Monday, but no, just as a commission higher education. I mean, what a cool thing uh for our state. Um, and we'll talk a little bit more about that as well. But as NJ pointed out when walking in, like nothing like celebrating
Indiana on IvyTech day. We love IvyTech as well. Uh, and are so honored to have President Marty Polio here with us today. And I'd now like to invite him to share a few words and and uh, welcome us here.
>> Thank you, Dr. Jenner. appreciate it. And uh as a fellow IU alum, I'm pretty excited too. I was uh actually watching the Rose Bowl and at the bottom it said the last bowl game that the Hooers won was 1991, I think. And I thought back
and I was like, I was a sophomore in college at IU at the time. And don't look so surprised. >> Someone on my staff when I said that at the staff meeting who went to IU said I was two. Fantastic. Said nobody asked me. So, it's pretty exciting and um I
can't wait. I'd love to go, but clearly the tickets are Yeah. So, I'm going to be watching from TV. Pretty excited. I just want to welcome you to uh obviously kind of IvyTechish. Um but we are so proud and honored to host you all once
again. The last time I spoke to you was I believe in August at the Madison meeting and I was about 30 days into the job. And so now I'm getting to six or seven months into the job. And so, uh, at that time I was, you know, drinking from the fire hose. There was no
question about it. And still a little bit, but I I've definitely, you know, really learned. I've spent time on every single campus. Um, really had the opportunity to learn and feel like we are at a position at IvyTech to really thrive moving forward, which I'm excited
about. You know, it's been amazing. We were able to celebrate a couple months ago 50,000 credentials that um that IvyTech got, which is over half of those in the state of Indiana. So, we are just really proud of that. You know, to to
see the fact that last year we served 204,000 Hoosiers at IvyTech. 3% of the state's population took a class at IvyTech and we are going to exceed that this year. So, it's really exciting. It's exciting time for IvyTech. I will tell you my
thing that I have learned um as president of IvyTech. It's a wonderful wonderful institution. It really is. Um you know I say this, no other state I think has an IvyTech. I have came from Kentucky which you know had loosely
associated campuses under KCTC. Um but you know there nothing was lined um you know credits didn't actually transfer from one campus to the other. Everyone was doing their own thing and Indiana is completely different and
exceptional in this way. And so the people at IvyTech are very missiondriven. I've come to see this. All 19 of our campuses have amazing things going on. But I also know we have room to grow, which is very important to me. We have room to grow. And so right now, perfect timing. We are in the midst
of developing our strategic plan for 2026 to 2030. And it's a real exciting time for us. you know, we haven't developed, you know, about the last one was 22 23 and so it is really a great time for us to decide where we're going
as an institution. I can tell you this as we have begun uh the strategic plan will launch on July 1st. >> Um and so we sunset our current one on June 30th. >> But either way, uh
>> so we sunset our our current one on June 30th. We're working through that process right now and having fantastic sessions. We've had listening sessions all over the state, something like 65 of them. Um, and then we've really done some deep dives at our systems office level. I can
tell you this, some of the things that we are really going to be focusing on at IvyTech. A clear clear commitment to stackable credentials is what we want to do. So, and you know, right now I think we are looking at kind of on the back
end of credentials. So after after the fact saying who got what credentials that might be not associates degree we want to do that on the front end and so students like when we can enroll a student that we can say here are your opportunities for credentials and let's
get you on kind of that thermometer of here you are towards this credential and then once you get this credential let's get you back in and get the next one and then hopefully you'll get an associates degree at the end of that. That is our commitment. that is what Ivy we really want to make sure first of all why are
you coming to IvyTech what do you want to get let's get that for you meaning based on a certification and then eventually let's keep pushing them to get that associates degree and so we can stack those credentials I can tell you this we are going to be laser-like
focused on the student experience we know that our students come to us and I will say this IvyTech is such a wide bucket of students it's it you can't I mean we have 15 year olds in IvyTech we have 75 year olds in Ivy Tech um all students everywhere across the state.
But we also know many of our students come to us with a lot of need and we need to meet those needs. We need to be focused on customer service which is our students and making sure students get everything they need to be successful because with our students some barrier
gets in the way they might drop off. And that's what we want to be intense really intense about. You know, another thing we want to make sure I think at IvyTech right now, we have too many different types of students. So, we have our dual credit high school students, we have our traditional undergrad students, we have
our workforce. We need to make sure they're all IvyTech students and you know, and take away the barriers between knock those barriers down. You know, right now, for instance, a dual credit student who uh is in one of our high schools across the state, they want to
continue on with IvyTech, we make them do another application, do all the things over again to it needs to be seamless. You want to stay with IvyTech, you continue right on and let's enroll you in classes and get you moving without having roadblocks in the way.
Um, so really focus on customer service, that laser-like. And then the final one I think you're going to see a lot is quality. I believe that we have to sell quality in everything we do. U clearly when you're talking about community college sometimes there's a stigma with that because there's two competing
forces here. Access to all um with you know not expensive. We know that about IvyTech which is something we'll be proud of. But then making sure that you have you know that quality kind of bump up against each other. Um and so we really want to focus on everything we
do, you know, whether it's workforce, whether it's dual credit, um you know, whether it is undergrad, whatever that may be, whether it is Ivy online, that we are focused on extreme quality. So those are the things we're going to focus on and we're building this right now and I look forward to bringing back
to you exactly what we're going to do and seeing IvyTech thrive in the years to come. So thank you so much for your support. We really appreciate you. your mention of stackable credentials, student focus, seamless transitions, quality. Uh, also I could tell that you
were a coach. Uh, uh, so and I lean in for presenters like that. So, uh, I I appreciate that very very much. I also uh want to introduce commission members and and the team to uh our new assistant
secretary Paul Ketchum. Uh just a a little bit of um a background when you asked me to serve as commissioner for higher education. Um I wanted to make sure I could give it my all. And uh and quite frankly, I'm
really loving being in the higher education world a lot. And so um and thinking through how to balance the the workload as you all know team is everything. It's everything who you surround yourself with and we have an
excellent group of team members. Uh but but I knew um I needed some support if I wanted to lean more into higher ed. Uh I needed some additional support in the K12 space. So Paul uh I did not tell him uh that he was going to be in introduced
or say a few words. So, I won't do that to you yet again. >> You get used to that, Dr. Jenner. I was already I knew all the I I He had to do a his third day in had to testify in front of the hat just so in case you're one like although we need good team
members. Everybody should come. Uh but we put you right in the defense. Paul, do you want to say a few words? >> Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Jenner. First of all, I'm humbled and you have the perfect leader for the commission. Dr. Jenner is the amazing leader and she's why I'm here today. I I knew the team was here. I wanted to join the team the last 13 years. I've been a
superintendent most recently in Batesville. Uh your former commissioner Chris Lowry is a good friend of mine. We we see each other at the YMCA when we're trying to work out together. So I will say misconcept that there was a misconception from K12 that higher ed doesn't bring good energy. My goodness, you ladies and
gentle brought some great energy today. So I appreciate that. But maybe the bo the best energy in the room. There's a young lady in the back there that told me she just retired and she's in a pretty good mood today. >> Celebrate her. >> So, thank you again, Dr. Jennifer, for
the introduction. And again, very blurry in my K12 and higher ed blurry. Marty talked about, you know, dual credit, dual enrollment, and I'm a little hurt. Marty and I are the same age, but he has a little better hair. I've got a little more gray in my hair. So, Marty, I need to know what your secret is.
I'm not going to color it, but I >> Thanks, Dr. May. I'm happy to be here. >> Thank you, Paul. We're thrilled to have you on the team. Uh, and again, you know, um, it has been an honor, but also so fun to uh, jump in and I've gotten to
know so many people in this room well. Uh, that the presidents are active uh, in texting and calling, which is what we want. uh because the the real work happens on the ground in our schools across Indiana. Um so thank you Paul for
that quick uh introduction of yourself. I also uh want to share um and this is some uh some tough news uh as a state, you know, again, as I mentioned, team is everything. And uh Rex Kendall, who many
people in this room know, uh many in the Terode area and beyond know, was a chief of staff at Indiana State University. Uh he suddenly passed away. I met with President Gdard yesterday. I see Steph Henshaw, uh, CFO of Indiana State
University here. Um, but he we we we want to celebrate his life. And I'd like for Kent Kramer, who knew Rex well, to open it up and say a few words. >> Thank you, Secretary Jenner. It was an honor um to answer that request. And uh
I happened to meet Rex in 1985 as a freshman uh at Indiana State University. He was working um uh the residence hall at Berford Hall, right? >> Um and uh he was working the desk there and it was my pleasure to know Rex uh
for these 40 plus years and and served with him while he was executive director uh of the alumni association. I served on that board for eight uh eight years. So, uh, Rex, uh, was the embodiment of what a sycamore is, and he spent most of
his, uh, most of his career with, uh, Indiana State University, two degrees. Uh, his sister Carrie, who I know well, and he's got another sister, Virginia. Both of his parents have passed. Um, but Rex would watch their French bulldog, Carrie's French bulldog, Edith, and
would actually bring Edith to campus sometimes. Uh but uh he had planned on retiring uh in Florida and for those that know Rex know that this would have been the perfect position for him. Harry and Jim uh have a place down at Fort
Myers, Fort Myers Beach. It's a small community, but Rex was going to go down and be like the uh social uh uh advisor connector with that small uh community. So he was really excited about that. But I've never seen him so excited then in
the last couple of years uh with President Gdard and and uh just so excited for Indiana State and and uh texted me when the enrollment numbers uh came out. Just really proud of the progress um uh that was being made and
uh Rex was um from Madison County, the Pendleton area, which is where I live. So we love talking about Pizza King Pizza and uh a lot of different things. But I know there's a couple other people that might want to say some things that be Rex as well. So I keep that short. >> There could be. Uh is would anyone else
uh commission members? Yeah, Kathy. Yes. >> So um I've had the privilege of knowing Rex as I served on ISU board for 10 years and um both as a colleague and as a friend. And I just want to say his
generosity and his welcoming and including inclusive spirit was never never missing. And that was one thing about Rex. You always felt like you were his friend even upon first meeting him. And that is really going to be missed.
Um he shared this really his his knowledge of not only the Teroot region but also the university freely and generously. the shared information and also gently coaching on protocol and he
was very good about that and that is something that will be greatly missed within the ICU community but I think higher education has lost a a very generous man and his indelible spirit will be missed
so condolences to his family I'll just share some of the same comments and thoughts I I've known Rex for probably 25 or 30 years. Not as much long as Kent, but a long long time. And and during that time, it was it was never about Rex. It was always about he
was the most positive person I've ever seen. I mean, he thought, you know, Alaska in the winter time would be the warmest place to be. I mean, everything was so positive uh with Rex and he shared that with everybody and uh he he just embodied, you know, warmth and and
acceptance and and uh you know, he was totally present with you and and I think that was really remarkable. He he was uh probably one of the biggest advocates for the Wall Bash Valley and for Indiana State and shared that throughout. Um but uh he will desperately be missed but uh
he was just a great guy and a and and a wonderful asset for for higher education. >> Anyone else online? >> I'll just add there's a celebration of life on uh Saturday. So I will take the red off and be uh top to bottom in blue
because that's what ress would want and that's what his family is asking people in attendance that they support six more blue. So yes, Saturday afternoon 3 to 5. >> Yes. Okay. >> And several people here are wearing ISU pins blue. So I know I've seen it around
the room. So in remembrance of friends. >> Thank you. Well, our thoughts and prayers are with the Indiana State University community and all of those of course who knew and loved Rex. And uh you can tell what what a person. and uh
thank God he was in uh Indiana and and served uh a couple decades at least at Indiana State University. Uh so he will be missed for sure. >> At this time I I want to transition. It
was mentioned earlier that we had some very positive news. Uh uh well, not very positive for us, but very positive for her. Uh Yavon Heft, if you could come up, we'd love to for you to uh stand in the front here, and we'd love to
recognize you while you're walking up. Um Yavon retired at the end of 2025 after 48 years of service. Yvon has been helping students and
families navigate the financial aid process since 1978 where she worked at the state student assistance commission of Indiana before it merged with the commission in 2012. Miss Yvon served as an integral part of
the financial aid and student support team, encouraging others to pursue their dreams and passions, bringing Christmas cheer to the office every December through our numerous decorations. You can come back and do that some more.
>> Um, and always showing up with a positive outlook. And uh I've been told Yaviovon by multiple people that you are already missed in the office and um you're you're here today. I don't know if you would like to say a couple words or if you just wanted to give you a big
round of applause. I'll leave that up to you. >> Say thank you. >> Me back especially my awesome two and a half months. I been trying to meet you, but never had
the chance. So now I get to see what you look like. >> Well, I'm going to stay after and we're going to talk. I might even recruit you back for 49th year. >> Okay. >> I am enjoying myself. Um, one of the
things that I did when I knew I was going to finally retire was I set a goal last year to do new things each month and get myself out there in terms and I can say that I am retirement.
But then I listen to everybody talk about when they were in school and I'm thinking, wow, I was in my 30s. But I I do appreciate I enjoy working for the um education
um whole scene. Um the biggest thrill for me is even though we get a lot of complaints when people are upset was when someone would call to say thank you for helping me that no matter how bad the day was
hearing that you know that you help somebody was good but tell you why I knew it was time for me to go. One day I got a call from a young lady. She asked for me. She said, "My grandmother said you helped her in school."
>> I said, "It is time for me to >> Well, Devon, we are uh so thankful for you and again, I'm I'm hearing from the team who is already missing you. So, I hope you will come back and and visit.
And again, if you get bored in your retirement, boy, do we have a spot for you. So keep us keep us posted but thank you for being some more good news. Uh yeah, I know
since this is a totally a shock to everyone. Um you know, again, it's o opening up like what a what an opportunity for the state of Indiana to be celebrated at this level. Um we know and I'm going to have Ted say a few
words uh here shortly, so finish your bite there, Ted. Um, you know, we talked about last time, the reality is when sports teams win, you usually see your admissions, your
admissions applications go up. So, I ran into someone on the national scene who was like, I can't wait to see I use data about what this does. Because, as you all know, I mean, this is this is one of those stories that is going to go down in the record books forever in sports.
And as I promised, I you would not jinx it. So I I won't do the white song. I thought about playing it, but I will say who who who >> All right. Ted is our lone uh uh
professor on the commission for high red and he happens to be uh an Indiana University professor. So would love to hear your thoughts. >> Well, Bloomington is crazy right now. Um, anybody's living there again testify to that. Um, things are being cancelled.
Uh, they opened up assembly hall capacity 17,000 for a walk party. Sold out all those tickets in two hours. U people are desperate for tickets. You know, constantly getting bombarded. Do you have an extra ticket? Uh, and I will
say it's And uh I I will say that uh it it does a lot for the place. You know the European mind I don't think can comprehend right the the you know why do you have a football team with your capacitating
you don't understand that in the United States we try to build a community of wellness on our campuses and the sports teams are a big part of it they provide um a central cultural icon around which we
can all form memories and uh you I hope I lived long enough to hear somebody saying my grandfather said that he was at the Republic and and the reason I I went to everything as soon as the opportunity was up. I was doing everything because I
know people who were going to go to the 68 Rose Bowl and said, "No, I'll go next year 50 years later." So, yeah, we're all going. We're all super excited and proud and it's as I
said it's a moment to stop and reflect about how the university contributes in different ways to well-being of the students of course faculty but the state as well. I can tell you that I'm on various sort of
national sort of legal things and every single zoom spent five minutes talking about Indiana, right? This is this is Burgly. This is this isn't everywhere and it's well earned. I I think Indiana University and our university system has been up there
and just not recognized the way the Michiganans are. So maybe this this will help with that too. Go you. >> Go at you. Well, thank you for that, Ted. You know, um, remarkable season. The other thing that's very cool is the
character of the players and the coach. Uh, I think that represents Indiana. Well, uh, you know, sometimes I won't name any um, schools outside of Indiana who were a little pompous as a Heisman. Uh but but our players and coach have
represented our state so well and uh that's cool to see. I will also say for all the Purdue fans and Boiler Makers in here, when you make the national championship, we will wear black and gold and do all the things. Um and chirp
chirp and US and Vincent, you already said IvyTech and Indiana State University. Um, so we appreciate and love all of our universities and want them to succeed. When you succeed, our state succeeds. So,
>> we're going to be waiting a little while for IP the trustees that do not bring out >> not in our strategic me. >> We'll celebrate you in other ways. All
right. So, um, let's, uh, let's be reminded of, uh, why we're all here and and our key focus areas. Um, we we've talked about this. I always like to, to be grounded in, uh, the mission. So, just very quick, making sure higher
education is as affordable and accessible to Hooser students and families as possible. We're going to be discussing that a bit today. increasing the educational attainment uh in Indiana based on their unique goals and purpose and really maximizing their potential
and then also uh streamlining our higher ed degree programs to better align with the knowledge and skills with industry demand uh as well as ensuring our students are prepared to contribute positively to our communities, our state
and our country. Um, so quick update on each of these and I'm going to have Michelle and Brooke uh share some updates. Uh, again, uh, mission members, you'll see this a lot. I'm not going to do most of the talking during it. The team does the work. I want them to share
the good news. So, go ahead and level set these for us. Yeah. So, we just have a few programmatic updates for each of these areas. I have one um, on affordability next. Um, in the theme of good news, we finally have good news to share about this topic. Um, I know that
you all have heard us talk about the FAFSA for the last couple years with a little less enthusiasm than we'll talk about it today. So, um, you can see here on the lefth hand side, the FAFSA opened this year uh for the 26th 27th cycle on September 24th, which is the earliest
it's ever opened in history. Um, so huge win after a couple of years of really delayed openings. Um, you can see the impact that has had recently on our Hoosiers. Over $575 million in federal PEL grants, uh, and then nearly, uh,
$400 million in state financial aid. Of course, there's institutional aid and community aid and and other things as well. And more impact to be had as we encourage students to continue to file that. We did, for the first time this last cycle reach our 60% filing goal in spite of all of the challenges that
we've had. So, we're really excited for the year ahead now that things are running much more smoothly than they have been. You can see already that as of uh earlier this week, we have uh more than a third of our high school seniors who have filed um and we have a state April 15th deadline. So, we'll be
continuing to push for filing towards toward that deadline. We do have a dashboard where you can monitor that by school and district and county and region. Um and so, we have that linked here. Um but we're excited to see where that goes. We currently have record filing rates across the country. Um, and
on average, it's taking a whole uh student and their family less than 15 minutes to complete. Um, and so we have really changed that. Um, and are excited to see where that continues to go. Um, on the topic of educational attainment, um, I have a couple of updates and then Brooke will really talk about some
completion data that we're excited to share with you. The first is on the Indiana College Corps. Uh you've heard us really talk about this the last several years as we push towards um helping all schools be able to offer this. So just wanted to share a couple of data updates. You can see that we're
now in 315 high schools um up from 84 in 2021. So we've really grown access to Hooser students to the Indiana College Bo. Um again, this allows students to complete um 30 credits at little to no cost that's transferable to all of our public institutions and many private
institutions across the state. You could also see the growth in the number of students who've earned that credential. Uh in 2015 we had 69 students um graduate high school with the Indiana College Corps. Uh and our 2023 cohort um there was 2,625
and we're just going to continue to see those numbers go up. Um especially as the ICC is encouraged with the new high school diplomas and some other strategies across the state as well. >> It's I'll just pause on that one. Uh you all know I have twin daughters who are
sophomores in high school and so uh you know doing this role as also a mom I hear uh certainly a lot of opinions from time to time uh but also um you know sometimes they tell me things as as if they're teaching me something. So they
were sitting around one night with talking to their friends and and they were like around the little you know table and they were like well of course you're going to get the core right? you're gonna get the college poor and they were talking about it as if like yeah like you're going to do it was like common nomenclature for high school
students. >> I love that. >> I was so good. I would have videoed it if my kids would have allowed they would not have been happier with me. But uh it's it's uh huge progress being made. Uh the team I know Commissioner Lowry and this commission has really pushed
that uh and it is working. So we'll keep our foot on the gas there. >> Yep. I remember sometime last year uh Commissioner Jenner texted Josh and me and it was look what came home from school today and it was little how do you complete the college core handout. So we're always excited to see that as well.
>> Um for our institutional partners in the room, it is time to talk about Collegiate Purple Star again. Um you may recall that back in July uh we for the first time recognized campuses through the Collegiate Purple Star of Indiana uh recognition. Um and it's time to be able to prepare for um the upcoming
recognition this next summer. Again, um the Collegiate Purple Star recognizes institutions for creating a supportive environment um for veterans and other military affiliated students. Uh we recognized 28 institutions across the state in 2025 and are eager to grow that
number in 2026. Um you will be uh your campuses will be receiving outreach from Kate Marlin on our team who runs that program. Uh there'll be a letter of interest that you can uh submit by the end of this month. Um and then the application will be due at the end of February. There's oodles and oodles of
pages of information that you all submit that we'll then review um and we'll do recognition again for for your campuses in July. So um watch for outreach from from Kate coming on that. So with that, I will talk over to Brooke to talk about completion. Wonderful. Thanks so much,
Michelle. Um so we have some really exciting news to share today. Um, looking at college completion, this is an area where Indiana really does lead the nation. Um, so this year, our statewide on-time completion rate increased one percentage point from 48 to 49%. And then our extended time
completion rate also increased one percentage point from 68 to 69%. And I'm going to dive into both of those rates in just a second. But I want to also call your attention to the hyperlink on the slide. Um, this is where we are publishing all of our publicly available data. And if you visited our website in
the last several months, you may have noticed that we're producing more data sets. And this is an intentional strategy um for the business intelligence team, we know that so many students and families are using AI. AI can't go to a typical data visualization tool and read it. So we are being really
intentional about producing data sets that can be uploaded into free AI tool. And if students want to ask questions, upload it. What is their graduation rate at this institution? How many students graduate with this major? We're really uh doubling down on that effort. We've also heard from our other agency
partners that um these open source data data files are really helpful in sharing information across agencies. We know we need to make that more efficient. Um and so we're really championing that. We'll still have our data visualizations. Um but invite you to take a look at some of
those data sets as well. Um so this first slide right here going back to completion rates is for on-time completion. As a reminder, this is sort of what we typically think of as graduating within the published program length. So, for a four-year degree, you graduate four years. For your two-year
degree, you graduate in two years. Um, and so for statewide, our on-time completion rates have increased by seven percentage points over the last 5 years and 17 percentage points um over the last 10 years. And to give you some context of what the national data looks
like, um, at our four-year institutions, our collective on-time completion rate is 53%. And publicly across the nation, across uh, public institutions, that rate is eight points lower at 45%.
Um, our two-year on-time completion rate um, is 26% up from 24%. We're seeing a lot of steady growth in our on-time completion rates at the two-year institutions. And again, we're above the national average for public two-year
institutions um at uh who come in at 22%. The next thing that we look at is extended time graduation rates. We know that there are a lot of things that occur in a student's life that may prevent them from graduating on time. a family member becomes sick, a parent
unexpectedly passes away, they have mental health issues. So, we don't want to lose sight of the fact that some students take a little bit longer to complete. And so, we want to measure the extended time completion rates. And this looks at any student who started as a firstear student, did they graduate in
six years? So, at our four-year main campuses, four out of five students are graduating with a credential. That is huge. Um and then across um our combined four-year uh campuses, our combined rate is 73%.
And for context, the national rate for extended extended time completion is 64%. Not 73%. We are doing really really well as a state. Um nationally, our two-year publics are have an extended
time completion rate of about 35%. Um and we can see where we fall here. So, we are really doing well as a state. We know we've got more progress to make because every single student who enters should complete their degree. So, we're not satisfied with this, but really pleased with the progress that we've
made so far. And pause really quick. I mean, I think it >> uh the leadership of Commissioner Lovers, Commissioner Lowry, this commission, and again, most importantly, what happens on the ground at our schools, uh the leadership of many of
these folks behind us. um our presidents and board boards of trustees uh at our institutions that is what is driving these numbers and uh again we just have to keep our foot on the gas. So this is really uh uh good news uh for the state
but a huge thank you to all of you who are doing the good work on the ground for our kids or our kids or 75 year olds. Yeah, young at heart. I would just I would just offer as well too that I mean it's
really impressive to see the results, but it really reflects a a consistent uh strategy focus over the last really 15 years that we put in place and I think outcomes based performance funding has been a big key part of that in terms of uh giving the each institution the
incentive to pursue these strategic goals that we have established and I think if we had not had that those incentives in place that that instit initutionwide focus might not necessarily have been there as as readily as it has been. So I think
that's an important part of uh of our success in the state of Indiana. >> And Mike, I think uh I think you're you're spot on being very crystal clear on the outcome. So we're not boiling the ocean. I know our higher ed institutions are thinking but the general assembly didn't fund that this year. Uh we are
already in conversation uh with them ahead on on how that should look. Um, again, we have to stay focused on the outcome. So, more discussions uh with our university system ahead. Thank you. >> Yeah, to Mike's point, we're really excited about um a lot of the we're
start to see the outcomes of a lot of the programs that we've initiated over the last several years. So, we'll be excited for works team to work with commissioner Jenner to share more of that data in the meetings to come. Our last uh section here is on industry alignment. We just have a quick update. Um, one of the things we're excited for
about later in this meeting is you all are going to vote on a new stackable pathway from IvyTech. As President Polio mentioned earlier, um, specifically focused on AI. Um, our career technical education team uh, partners very closely with IvyTech uh, and Vincent to deliver
uh, CTE pathways. Um and we just have an update today that um we are launching for this upcoming school year some new um AI focused courses that will align directly to those uh that AI pathway that you all are going to take a vote on later today um that's coming out of IvyTech. So two new courses on AI and
data fundamentals and then AI and machine learning capstone. Um again these will directly map to to credit at IBTech and will be part of that stackable um credential sort of opportunity where they have a certificate technical certificate and associates degree that you all will
review later this meeting. So with that I'll turn it over to Commissioner Jennifer closing comment and uh my closing comments are uh follow the same uh pattern. Uh we want the greatest success for every one of our colleges and universities in the state of
Indiana. Uh, and we'll continue to support all, celebrate all, and do everything we can to to move the needle for our state. It matters. >> Back to you. >> Thank you. Great report, Al. Thank you, Secretary Jenner. Thank you, Greg. Thank you, Michelle, very much. Um,
>> let's see. We'll move on now to our consent agenda. Um, uh, been posted online. Uh, consent agenda for this meeting includes the routine staff actions, uh, which you should have seen. Before we dive into those though, I do want to turn it over to CF Dennis Glam, chair of the academic
affairs and quality uh he has any comments he would like to take. >> Good morning everybody. >> Good morning. >> First of all, in the spirit of the day and I see 15 the number of times
I 15 and0 also the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Mar the King >> I believe he would have been 97 years old today but for an assassin's bullet. So just a a good time of reflection.
Also want to thank the academic affairs and quality committee. We did meet on the 15th of December and and had an opportunity to hear a presentation from Indiana State a bachelor of science and early
childhood education and then IvyTech College of course programs around IT information systems and applied artificial intelligence and through great discussion everybody's item on the agenda for XK.
Thank you, Dennis. I'm going to turn it to Dr. Butler. That I think uh any comments regarding the staff actions? No, it's a little bit of a longer list than might be used to. First, we didn't have a November commission or November
AQ committee, which is typical for every year do Thanksgiving holiday. And then because of the other holidays in December, our AAQ meeting for that month is midmon and earlier than normal. Uh you will see if you look at it a lot of followup on the great work our institutions did are under thresholds
review through the opportunity for voluntary early action. What we sometimes call in our shop is reach one consent actions a great deal of consolidating the program and streamlining their academic program inventories. Also, uh you'll see just some run-of-the-mill uh items in terms
of curating current programs such as reducing credit hours, those sorts of things. When it comes to outside accreditation, so I think those are the most notable uh items. Um would you like me to hold off until we go to expedite items or yeah,
I think that's if I follow my agenda correct. I I do think we need to take a vote though on the consent agenda. So, I would entertain a motion for that approval. So move. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any comments or questions on those routine actions
beyond what uh Dr. Butler has referenced. Okay. Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed. Okay. Very good. Thank you very much. Um now we'll head to the new business
portion of the agenda. I'm going to ask Mike Ali, chair of the budget productivity uh committee to provide a report out. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh Dan, uh our committee met on January 8th and reviewed uh a number of capital projects. Uh several are expedited uh
review projects and then others uh more powerful vote and discussion. Uh perhaps we ought to cover the expedited ones first and uh they included uh Indiana University uh really some deferred maintenance at the regional campuses uh
throughout which uh encompassed uh about $9.3 million at uh at various campuses. Any questions, comments regarding those? And Cody, anytime you want to step up and talk about any of these, feel free. Um
the uh the next one, IvyTech, we've got uh the uh Terote Health Science Renovation Project also for uh expedited review. This is a $3 million project and uh again uh bunch of the the funding is
in the fundraising is in place and then some R&R dollars about a million dollars and then some unrestricted assets for 1.2 the total of about $3 billion. Um next at uh Vincent Benson University we have a steam plant renovation. Lots
of exciting stuff associated with that as you can imagine but but uh very important and u that is fourth right Clark residence hall. >> Yeah the residence hall. Yeah that's about $2.9 million is the is the George
Rogers Clark. So those are the expedited review. Uh Cody, any further comments? The committee reviewed these and does support these approval on an expedited uh basis. So yeah, staff is recommending approval of these on an expedited basis. Um one and just in general the
investment in our regional campuses and being key to our overall state strategy. Uh we're excited about the opportunity potentially increase enrollment the terote health sciences project and that project will allow for something like that. Um and then of course the importance of utility safety and keeping
our assets updated um that the work that is doing. So staff does recommend these expedited approval. >> Well I make the motion for approval though please I need a second. >> Thank you very much Kathy. Any other any
comments or questions for either Mike or Cody beyond what's been described? Okay hearing none. All in favor of approval of the four projects as part of the consent agenda, please say I. >> I. I. >> I. Same.
>> Okay. Very good. And then we have three projects for further discussion. Uh, two from Purdue and one from IvyTech. I see Kendra's up here already. So, why don't we go ahead and have her do uh the two projects from Purdue. >> Thank you, Commissioner Ally. Yeah.
Unfortunately, I generally don't get to do expedited action, so I was ready to speak whenever it was my turn. Uh, good morning, commission members. Kinder Leatherman, director of government relations for Purdue University. Uh, we have two projects here um for your
consideration and review. Um, Commissioner Ally, does it matter which one I start with? >> Yeah, why don't you go ahead and do the Wald Street repurchase first? >> Okay. Yeah. Uh, first project we have for your review and consideration is the I'm going to call it the Delta Gamma sorority transaction which includes a
purchase over $2 million in a lease term longer than four years. Uh, the proposed land acquisition from and ground lease to BA Beta Iota of Delta Gamma House uh will facilitate the sorority's plans for future growth. The sorority has owned
and operated 303 Waldron Street in West Lafayette since it was built in 1951. Uh specifically, Purdue would like to buy.5 acres of land at 303 Waldridge Street, West Lafayette from the sorority for $8.3 million of um and we will be using
operating funds for this transaction. The purchase price is based on the appraised value of the structure, cost of recent improvements, and consideration uh given for the remaining useful life of the structure. Additionally, land owned by the trustees and located at 500 North Russell Street
and 503 Waldron will be ground leased at a market rate to the sorority for a period of 40 years where they intend to build a new house. Uh the current property will be leased back to the sorority during the construction of their new facility. And this acquisition and ground lease will achieve uh the
following for the university and the sorority. along uh this long-term transaction creates vibrancy and positive student life impacts in our North Waldin neighborhood. It allows our university to own a property at an important strategic location which aligns with our 2018 Giant Leaps campus
master plan. Um this has been identified as a potential site for future campus development and in the near term the student housing will remain intact for sorority members while the new residential location is being constructed. Um, I'd also like to note specifically that the sorority is very
pleased with the prospect of the of this transaction that will give them stability for their current membership but also provide them opportunities for growth in the future. >> Very good. Thank you, Kendrick. Uh, the committee did review this and uh and does recommend approval. And Cody, you want to talk about the staff's
perspective? >> Yeah, staff also recommends approval. I me in particular, one of the things that we identified as particularly important was the strategic location and it was uh if you look at a map and you can kind of see how this sits between two other academic portions. This kind of allows
for a number of different things um from the university's perspective that will I think catalyze uh their ability to continue their strategic plan. So we're recommending uh approval. Yeah. Yeah. I think a key part as we've discussed this is we realize that $8.3 million for a
small property uh it is a lot of money but based upon its strategic location within the within the campus confines and its importance relative to the longerterm strategic master plan for Purdue University. Uh it really does
make sense. This also gives uh Del Delta Gamma the opportunity to to relocate to relatively nearby site uh but to construct a site that will meet the long-term needs they have as well too. So based upon that I would make a motion for approval.
>> Thank you Mike. Thank you Cody. Uh need a second on that. >> Second. >> Thank you very much. Are there any specific questions for either Mike or Cody or Kendra? >> Okay hearing none. All in favor please say I. I I >> I
>> oppose saying. >> Okay, very good. Congratulations. Thanks. Purdue Northwest. >> Okay. Uh the next project we have for your consideration review is the Robert's impact lab uh located at Purdue Northwest. Uh the impact lab will serve
as a research hard uh research innovation and commercialization hub that supports Indiana's efforts as a part of our hard- techch corridor. The lab will be our Indiana's first facility to be directly linked to the quantum network corridor. The project includes renovating and repurposing a facility
that has been previously part of larger hospital complex. It requires total interior demolition and renovation to meet the needs for its new intended use. Upon completion, the first floor's 13,000 ft will house two quantum
computing labs, classrooms, multiple collaboration meeting spaces. As you can expect, building systems such as mechanical, electrical, fire suppression will need to be replaced and updated along with the new chiller and generator for this to meet its new intended use.
The facility will expand the university's opportunities in applied research, commercialization, strengthen national security, increase economic development, and expand STEM programs for AI and related fields. Cost of the project is $10 million and will be funded by 7 million of operating dollars
and 2.5 million of gift funds. And I'd also like to note that the $10 million will complete a Purdue obligation under a ready grant for matching funds from the state for this innovative project. >> Thank you, Kendra. Again, the committee review this and does recommend. Cody,
would you like to share with the staff's perspective? >> Yeah. Um I I don't think it can be overstated how the the exciting portion for me at least for this and I think for a lot of people the connection to the the quantum corridor uh that is like a big big important moment for Indiana and
I've always been really impressed with Northwest in particular's connection to the uh regions industry and like future and so I think this really like fits um their strength areas uh that we've seen and I think it's also like a big opportunity for Indiana to I know we
talk about AI a lot, but uh quantum's up there too in terms of the the future of what technology and industry looks like. So, I think this is where the full opportunity stay. I think those of us who were able to go up to our meeting last year, which was held up there, I
think were exposed to the Robert's lab and I'm forgetting the director's name, but that was a really interesting meeting to share the excitement that Cody that you described. Absolutely. Quantum computer labs in the state of
Indiana universities or is this the first? I I believe this will be the first, but someone can feel free to correct me. >> Tell you what, we'll we'll uh before we commit that it's the first, we'll do the research and get back to you. I think that's impressive.
>> Fantastic. >> Based on that, I would recommend approval, make the motion for approval. >> Good. See the second. Thank you again. Uh any additional questions uh for Mike or for Kendra, Mike, or Cody here?
Okay. All in favor, please say I. I >> I >> oppose. Same. All right. Congratulations again. >> Thank you. >> And then we have a project from IvyTech for Sersburg. Uh if it cover that my readers out as I used to be.
Um, IvyTech is here today to see construction of a new 33,000 square foot technology center on the Sersburg campus property to house the advanced manufacturing engineering and applied science school and the school of information technology programs. The new
12.8 million facility will replace the current facility which is a 46,000 foot manufacturing building which is the Perkins Technology Center which is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. So not on our main campus. While the current building is significantly larger than the new building will be, the
current building does not house the school of technology and again it's it's away from the main campus. When the new building is complete, we'll achieve a 30% decrease in square footage while adding campus cohesion. Um we'll reduce the campus facilities footbook by approximately 13,000 square feet. The
project will have a profound effect on students in two schools featuring multiple highwage high demand degree programs that sync with employer needs. The technology center will incorporate instructional laboratories, classrooms, and technology that are highly customized and specifically developed
for each program. Importantly, the new facility will bring students back to the main campus, enhancing access to critical retention and completion, support resources, and promoting integration into the greater campus community and culture through events, activities, and interactions, which we know this strategy has been shown to
increase student retention because of feeling of a belonging on campus. The college will fund the project through the sale of our current Perkins Technology Center, the cell sale sale of land to facilitate a Baptist Health and Intuitive Health Project, campus
resources reserved for project and fundraising. Um, we have $7.2 million that will raise through the sale of the Perkins facility, which is currently on the market, and 1.6 from the sale of the Baptist or from the land to Baptist
House, which is already done. Um 5.6 million will be through fundraising efforts. We've secured about 60% of those and we'll continue fundraising efforts. If we're unable to secure the full money through fundraising efforts, the college will use unrestricted net assets from the campus that we currently
have in reserves. The project will open current space in the campus right now which is about four classrooms for IT instructional resources that'll allow for further expansion of our nursing and physical therapy programs. Um, it reduces our campus facility square foot
as I've mentioned while for family improving the quality of instructional resources for students. Operation maintenance, access and security will be better served by a unified campus that will showcase technology labs, students and faculty aligned with highly advanced career
fields with strong income potential. We seek to move forward with the project immediately so that we can minimize program displacement and speed student access to these customized resources. Happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you, Mayor J.
Uh the committee reviewed this and supports it and I'll turn to Cody for the staff comments. >> Yeah, I think this is actually a really good example of u something I wrote down earlier that Dr. portfolio very wisely mentioned which is like how do we find that how do we both create access and
affordability and high quality uh education that I mean that's a challenge that not only those of us in government face but all of us right in our our professional lives often run into uh but I think in this case in particular the ability to shrink our square footage decrease our operating costs uh in terms
of operating the assets while also increasing the quality of education the students are going to be receiving with this new facility uh I really hits the mark with that. So, we also recommend for this project. So, with that, I motion approval. Wonderful. Thank you. >> Second.
>> Thank you again. Got a team going. Um, are there any uh comments or questions uh for MJ or or Mike or Cody? Good presentation well described. >> Thank you. >> All right. Hearing none. All in favor, please say I.
>> I. >> I. Sorry. Sorry folks, that concludes the uh budget and productivity >> very good report. Thank you Mike. Thank you team. Uh let's see here. We now we're going to move on to our academic affairs and quality committee um
academic degree programs approval and we have seven academic programs for expedited as Dr. Butler had referenced briefly and as you will have seen in your material. So I'll turn it over to Matt to uh walk us through those. >> Yes, certainly. Thank you, Mr. Mr.
Chairman, uh I'll I'll sort of work out of words and preface a whole expedited item with uh after Senator rolled back 448, we have to apply higher certainty uh to credit be mering certificates. So this is the first time the commission
has considered certificate programs as an expedited item. Uh we look at those that are 13 credit hours or more such as certificates, technical certificates and what have you. Yes, this is the first way to put the hats off to any being the brave ones to do it. But I think it also
shows that by putting this higher level scrutiny uh institutions and large are taking it far more seriously and we didn't have a whole wave of them come through this past summer. So I think it's been a good intentional partnership in that regard. Um starting from the
top, Indiana State University submitted I mean bachelors of science and early childhood education. Um to be honest, I was a little surprised they didn't have it already. They did have it a while ago in the past. Uh they uh suspended it because of strategic realignment and
wanting to maintain quality. They're bringing it back for a variety of reasons. The minor in early childhood education is their most popular in the by college of education and it's the second most popular minor on the entire campus. So they believe a critical mass is there to leverage current assets and
resources that don't need to be expanded to open up a specialized preschool through grade three lensure pathway. Uh they're using you and current faculty for current coursework that includes science and reading revisions and updates. The only thing they're adding are two new courses in steam uh for
early young minds that are developing for critical uh thinking skills, imagination, what have you. Um they uh also have several other uh early childhood education offerings which uh provide a regular synergy. Those are certificates and a master's uh program
concentration. Um because of this uh we uh the committee considered the proposal and recommended expedited action on it. I can then proceed to the IDTech proposals. There are five certificates and one AAS. Um the first two, the information
infrastructure and operations was part of a larger IT program realignment that was strategic in parallel the suspension of five certificate programs back in October that served as sort of siloed pathways to a variety of u associate
degrees. They found that a lot of students were sometimes switching their major as they were going through a certificate. learned a little bit more say about IT support or cyber security when they were in the other pathway. Uh so instead they created a unified entry point for the certificate and a
technical certificate going up to four associate degrees all in the IT space. They found that to provide career exposure to students so that they could still continue on a pathway that's streamlined and it would better leverage a lot of their faculty resources, their classrooms, their labs, their online
delivery. Uh so those are the two the CT and the TC and information infrastructure and operations. Uh the next uh the information systems and analytics certificate is a new entry point certificate as well but it's very nimble. It applies to three technical certificate and associate degree
pathways and also can tie into the new applied artificial intelligence which I'll just get to. Um so another realignment. Uh the next one is a true new pathway that's obviously quite responsive to I think a topic we mention in almost every meeting, artificial
intelligence and machine learning. This is a CT that's a professional certificate of skill upskilling professionals. It takes the place of the CT I just mentioned the information systems and analytics of the new student going into the applied artificial intelligence pathway to start with that
one that one in the middle of your page. Uh and then there's the TC and the AES and applied uh artificial intelligence. Um this obviously shows that IGTH is curating uh their IT offerings getting rid of some streamlining others but then
also given the gravity and importance of AI is adding a whole new dedicated pathway to where it was a quite a package of things coming our way. It was a pleasure to work with IvyTech staff uh in learning more about these uh programs
and staff recommended expedited action to the committee and they agree. Great. Uh a lot of good programs very well described. Thank you. And um so I would entertain a motion for the approval of the expedited actions uh as
described. >> Second. >> Thank you very much. Got some new blood in it. I like it. I like it. Um >> any uh any any questions uh on the expedited items from anyone?
Okay. Uh hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposing. All right. Very good. Thank you very much. Okay. So, that gets us through um I think our issues of
business that we need to vote on. We now have a couple of really interesting discussions moving forward. The first is going to be a discussion around uh the Frank Oannon grant methodology which we've talked about uh obviously before and leading into this uh we have a
presentation on that from Brook Kyle who is the senior associate commissioner for business solutions. And while Brooke gets set up uh just a level set for commission members and everyone in the room today, uh we're excited to transparently
share the Frank Oannon grant methodology in hopes to uh get any ideas that folks out there might have about how to best get this money to the students who need it the most. and and we feel uh the best
way to do that is to get all the possible brain power all the possible brain powers eyes on this formula and uh give us feedback. So Brooke is going to walk through this is going to be a little weedy. She's going to walk through it. So everybody stay awake,
stay off your cell phone, stay focused. It's a it's it's a little heavy topic and then at the very end there will be a QR code and of course we'll link a jot form to the press release to uh formally extend and ask for any feedback and how we can improve. So uh Brooke take it
away. >> Thank you very much Dr. Jenner. Um so again today what we wanted to do was go over the Frank Bannon Hang on. Let me make sure this there we go. uh the Frank Oannon methodology and how the or how the commission approaches developing a
schedule of awards which ultimately um dictates the projected spend. So before we get into the weeds, as Katie said, I wanted to first provide an overview of the Franco Bannon grant program. Um it is Indiana's primary need-based student financial aid program for Indiana
residents and it's made up of two separate awards. It's made up of the higher education award um in statute for public and proprietary institutions and then the freedom of choice grant and that is for our nonprofit independent institutions. We collectively refer to
these as the Franco Bannon grant program and I'll be doing so for the remainder of the presentation. Um some additional information about the Franco Bannon Grant Program. Since fiscal year 21, the general assembly has appropriated about 167 168 million to
the Franco Bannon grant program. The slide shows the breakdown for fiscal year 26 on the distribution between the higher education award and the freedom of choice award. Um, and we have this appropriation for both fiscal year 26 and 27. Um, again, this is our largest
need-based financial aid program. Last year, 37,000 37,000 Hooser students were served by this grant with an average award amount of about $5,000. Um, one of the biggest changes to the Frank Oannon grant program was in fiscal
year 26. Um, the grant funds are now uh reverting and our historical carry forward is also reverting. And we've talked a lot about that um at other commission meetings. And so when we approach this year of setting the schedule of awards, our primary goal is
to maximize the appropriation but also stay within the appropriation and we are committed to doing that. So before I go into how we develop the methodology, I wanted to provide a reminder or a level set um of what are the requirements for
the Franco Bannon grant. Uh first requirement is that the award amounts must be determined by the federal needs calculation. Um in other words, this is the FAFSA and we talk a lot about the FAFSA. Michelle talked earlier about FAFSA filing rates. This is really
important, but we also need to pay attention to the federal needs analysis calculation. Anytime the federal government changes that, it has a very large impact on the Franco Bannon grant program. And we'll touch on this in just a second. The second requirement in
Indiana code says that we are required to have separate award amounts based on the type of institution the student attends. So public state education institutions at the four-year level, our IvyTech Vincen's two-year Publix, our
nonprofit uh private colleges, and then our proprietary institutions who are offering credit bearing programs in the state. Additionally, per statute, we are required to offer a larger award amount to firsttime recipients as well as
recipients who are completing at least 30 credit hours during the academic year. Um, numerous data studies of our own and nationally have shown that if students are completing at least 30 credit hours, they're more likely to graduate. They're more likely, excuse me, likely to persist. Um, so this is
incentivized in the Franco Bannon program. In the 21st century scholar program, this is actually a requirement. But because this is our need-based program, the Franco Bannon grant incentivizes the 30 credits. And then finally in code, the award amounts for
students attending a public state educational institution except for IBTech must be equal to 50% of the amount for students attending a nonprofit private institution. So, when we uh put the schedule of
awards in front of you, there's a copy, commission members, um in your packet if you'd like to look at it. We're really strategic in how we present the schedule of awards to our institutional partners in that we incorporate all of the legislative requirements in this schedule. So, up at the top in the
orange where it says negative 1500 and then the next bucket says uh 1499 uh to 1,000. Thank you. Um, this represents the federal needs analysis calculation and in very overarching terms, this is a
student's demonstrated financial need based on their family's income. And so what we do on this schedule is we increase the the need for the student up to a certain level. On the left hand side in the purple, this is where we structure the requirement to have
different award amounts based on the institution type. So we have a block for private, block for public 4-year and a block for a proprietary and IBTech institutions. On the bottom with the blue arrow, we can see that we have two rows for every
single line and one says on time, one says full-time. And if we look a little bit higher in the slide to actually see the numbers, we can see that a student with a negative 1500 SAI, if they're attending, let's say, a public 4year, their amount I need to get closer here.
I need readers. Um, their full-time amount would be 38.50, but if they were to uh complete 30 credits per semester, they would get 5300. So again, their need hasn't changed, but they are eligible for a higher award because we
are incentivizing on-time completion rates. And then finally in the green arrows we can see the legislative requirement where the on-time award for the public institutions at 5300 is exactly 50% of the private amount for
the same need band of 10,600. So when we produce the schedule of awards, this is primarily used for our institutions to develop financial aid award letters for incoming students who are considering their institution, but
also for returning students who need this information to decide if they can persist and retain at that institution. >> Can we go back to that chart? It's, you know, several questions and and I I know you put the statutes on the screen. Uh,
but we've had several questions about uh the how private has to be double uh the public. uh that is in statute when we take feedback again on the full
formula and how we're distributing. Uh including if if we if students even know about the incentive or like any number of things we we might hear about with this. Um anything that we can do as a commission we'll take a look at.
Anything that is in statute we will send uh to the third floor. uh for those who aren't familiar with the state house to the 150 members who make the statute. Uh so just wanted to to flag uh that since it's been asked quite a bit. Thank you
very much Dr. Jenner. And so again, we developed the schedule of awards and when we develop the schedule of awards again to create financial aid award letters, but when we develop it, we also have to have an idea of what the projected spend is going to be. And that's the responsibility that the
commission takes um to make sure that we maximize that appropriation but stay within it. So we have two administrative models that we use. I'm going to see if that No, that goes back. Um two administrative models that we use. My headers aren't showing up very well here. Um, the first one is called the FAFSA model, and I'll go into that in
just a second. And the second model is called the claims model. And we use these together in tandem to come up with a schedule of awards, project spend, monitor spend, monitor FAFSA filings so that um, again, we can stay within the
appropriation. So, this first uh, model, and again, this is where we get into the weeds. Buckle up. Um, is our FAFSA model overview. And what we end up doing is we incorporate actual FAFSA filing data by the student aid index. So that's what is
calculated by the FAFSA by the priority deadline that we set each year. Normally when we do modeling, we like to include as many years of data as possible. And for the SAI, we have two years of FAFSA data available. Unfortunately, due to a
change in the federal needs analysis calculation, we saw a significant shift of how students were moving in what we call our need buckets. And so to explain this, the or excuse me, the blue bar represents 2425,
orange represents 2526. And what we are what we are seeing is that students with no change to their family income whatsoever are being moved from the highest need to a lower need category even though their income hasn't changed. And so when we
approached this year having to do uh or needing to do the model, we decided that we were only going to use the most recent federal needs analysis calculation um in our projections for sprint. The second thing that this model does is it goes back one year and we rely on
utilization patterns. And so we look at, okay, of all the students who filed FAFSAs, who attended a public four-year at an on-time, who attended a public four-year at a full-time, and we have all these different combinations that comes together in the model and comes up
with our ability to look at a schedule of awards and say, here's where we can make some inputs and adjustments to the numbers of FAS filed, the amount of the awards, the need buckets that we stretch. Um and that's how we end up developing that initial schedule of
awards for our institutions. Uh the commission has always prioritized giving meaningful award amounts to our lowest income students. And so when we develop the schedule of awards, we are intentionally making sure that students who are in these really high need
categories have an award amount that makes it possible for access, makes it possible for them to afford college, um hopefully reduce loan debt. And so that's how we structure that award. Um and again the model is uh very much sensitive to the number of FASAs being
filed. Um but we continue to monitor it. So we've employed this model currently. We're monitoring the number of FAFSAs filed each week. Um and continue to do that. So once we get through into the fiscal
year, we look at the claims model. So, the claims model purpose is to act as a fiscal control and a check um to make sure that our spend is going to end up within the appropriation. Um so, we do not when we receive a FAFSA for a
student, we have no idea what school that a student's going to go to. Um they can send it to 40 different schools if they want to. So once we start getting claims data in from the institutions to say that yes uh John enrolled here at full-time then we can start getting an
accurate picture of what does our actual claims data look like um based on the claims that the institutions are submitting. So this is our claims model and I'm going to explain it a little bit that we look at we look at eight years of claims history and what we do is we
say okay for the institutions they submit their fall claims for the fall semester they then do that again in January by the time we hit October November that orange bar says this is what we spent actually but based on the claims model historical data we believe
that the total fiscal year spend is going to land between these two dotted lines, the upper bound and the lower bound. The reason we need to wait on the claims model for October and November data is that as you can see the two uh lower and upper bounds are really far
apart when we're in July, August, September. We don't have a good enough um sense of what the final spend is going to be. So what we do is we wait for the claims model to get into October um and then we have a better understanding of what the projected spend would be. If for example we saw
from the claims data that the total projected spend would then exceed the appropriation at this point in time then we would have to communicate with the financial aid community. We need to revise the schedule of awards for the spring semester in order to stay within the appropriation. And so that's our
lever that we would pull as our fiscal control should we need it. The good news we are not doing that this year. Um and so when we look at our two models for fiscal year 26, we are now predominantly relying on claims data and we're looking at it frequently. In November, we
estimated that the projected spend for Frank Oannon would be about 160 million. We're now saying that's going to be closer to 156. So one of the things that um executive leadership will look at is we get closer to the end of the fiscal year is we know these funds are going to
revert. We also know we have transfer authority uh to 21st century scholar to the adult student grant. How can we work with the state budget agency our partners across the street to make sure that we maximize these dollars even if we can't spend it directly in the Franco
Bannon grant program. And then for fiscal year 27 fiscal year 27 we're relying on the FAFSA model looking at FAFSA's coming in constantly and the most recent data we believe we're going to come in at about 157 million. We do
know, as Michelle said, the FAFSA roll out and um how students and families are completing is going very well and we're very excited about that. So, we intentionally built in a buffer of about 7% um so that if we see a jump in the FAFSA increases, the schedule of awards
that we put out for fiscal year 27 will keep us within the appropriation. >> So, on this one, so if we, this probably seems obvious, but I think it's important. If we um go over the 168 uh
and I know this has not happened much but it has happened in the past then we have to pull money back from students which is to not go really tough. >> We don't want to to get there. If we underpredict um then we have the option
rather than just reverting to move it to 21st century for the adult um when when that decision what is the timeline for that decision like when will we know when that decision needs to be made and then do we have to go to
budget committee or is it simply a decision uh that we have? >> Um I'm going to probably defer to either Michelle or Cody. My understanding is that we would need to have a conversation with budget but either of you want to chime in. >> Yeah. If there was ever the decision that we needed to change the schedule mid year we would go before state budget
committee. That's if we go over. >> Correct. Yeah. Totally lock it. >> And the plan is to not do that. Um if we were to understand then yeah um Cody and Courtney would work with state budget agency on uh arranging our ability to transfer to those other programs. >> Okay. So does state budget committee
have to approve? We would just work with them and then make the Okay, understood. Thank you. >> And what around what time? uh we would probably be get strategic over something sometime later in the spring. >> Okay. Yeah, great question. And again,
thank you for pointing that out, Dr. Jenner. Um we would love for these projections to be at the 168 to say that we nailed it. Um but because of the risk of overspend, we don't have that luxury. So we chose a model and the way that we set it up in both of them to make sure
that it's a little bit more conservative to ensure that underspent. Brooke, if I can make one real quick, the other lever that we have is the ability to extend the FAFSA deadline. We have done that in some recent years. Um, so the priority deadline is always April
15th, but if we figured out if we kicked it out to say April 30th, you could get a little closer to that line without going over. Um, so we have leveraged that in years past where you can allow a few more students to get in by extending that past the deadline for just that year to get a little closer to that
mark. Mhm. Yeah. Thank you for saying that, Michelle. And the other consideration we think about with that lever is that priority deadline extends to all of our financial aid programs. So then we not only need to be able to project the fiscal impact to Frank Oannon, but to our other programs as
well. Question, please. The decision again, if you're going to put money into the 21st century adult, what are the criteria? What who makes that decision? What what type of thought process? and and if you don't we don't have to go into it now but I would be interested if
we do address that maybe at closer to that point that we hear a little bit what what decisions come into play what requirements what >> yeah thank you for the question Kathy I think because this is the first year that we're really faced with that situation um we have not solidify what our strategy would be but definitely
happy to hear thoughts of the commission members um Dr. Jenner and others of like what would the best thing do and definitely keep you informed before that goes forward. >> Yeah, I mean this is uber political. I mean I worry less about us and more about navigating
>> some um and and that points back to as you know I mean we we we uh went through that um significantly last year uh in the budget shortfall year and there are some strong
opinions. Um, so I would say uh they will probably we will have conversations to make sure we're working with them, but that we're also in the driver's seat to make the recommendation. Um, so I would say more to come on this. Uh, but since it in the past was not reverting,
>> this is a a new process which means they will want to weigh in. >> So stay tuned. >> I'm sure. And anything you can share with the commission as far as what we should be thinking about for feedback? Yeah, we will definitely take that into advisement and see what we can sort of
question that we can ask. Great. >> Um, so this last guide, as Dr. Dr. Jenner said earlier, we are putting it out on the table. We're being very transparent in looking at what other states do. The only one I can find that does something even remotely similar is Minnesota. Um, but our purpose in doing
this is if there are ideas of how we can build this schedule better to more effectively maximize these dollars, we are absolutely open to hearing it. My business intelligence team would love to sit down with people and talk about data and stats. Our financial aid team would
love to hear your thoughts. So, um we do have a jot form and a QR code. This will also be in the press release. We are asking people to weigh in whatever feedback they may have um by about March 25th which uh point we'll close that and then our staff will come together do
sort of a summary of the feedback received and then communicate what if any next steps we decide to take um in terms of that feedback. Are there any additional questions for me or for anyone on the commission? >> Yes, Ted.
>> Um what's wrong? like what's the pain point? What is the thing that you're going to the public we need to revise this? I'm not other than than the issue of like guessing correctly. Is this
what's wrong? >> Yeah. So, I will jump in on that. um last year because of I think what we went through uh with the Oannon discussion um specifically with the general
assembly. Um there was a lot of conversation. Um our public colleges and universities weighed in some but it was more so our private institutions in Indiana. And you can see why based on the schedule. And so >> it's unfair.
>> No, no, no, no, no, no. There it was not about fairness. It was more about boy, do I have an idea or ways that we can look at this. And so the the goal and this is this is you you'll see this routinely. I mean, I always believe,
hey, if someone has a better idea, we'd love to hear it. I mean, bring it on. uh and especially when it comes to an important topic like this funding for students to uh to enroll our our students who need it the most. Um so
this is not saying there's a problem. This is saying uh and I will personally email the presidents. I will personally email uh the the private school presidents as well to say here's your opportunity. if you have thoughts, if you have ways that we can better
distribute, please uh uh weigh in. >> So, just a quick followup then. Do you have any information about money that's lost in the sense of you give a young person a grant, they don't finish? So, it's seems to me that that what you're
trying to do is make a difference in someone's life. So, there's two ways of not making a difference. one is not giving somebody enough >> or giving money to somebody who doesn't uh find themselves able to take full advantage of. Do you have any of that
kind of loss meeting information? >> Um that's a really good recommendation Ted for something for us to look at. One of the challenges we have with Franco Bannon that we don't have with let's say 21st century scholars is uh students have to demonstrate need each year. So just because they aren't utilizing it the next year doesn't mean they're not
persisting. It may just mean that their need went up enough where they don't qualify for the award. But I think it's a really fair question and something we need to look at. >> Yeah, I think it's I think that's a really important question. Um I mean we hope that we hope that every cent of
this is being used and and valued. Um but yeah, we we need to know how much is or or students or I think you're referred to tell like if students stop out and don't complete and >> we give a nice grant to somebody who doesn't will actually get a degree and
it's good. I mean, it's good to expose people to the education system, but >> yeah. >> And does that come if you know there's an incentive built in? Um, but if a student stops out
uh let's just say mid semester. Um, is there a process that does that money stay like in with them or with the how does that work? >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so I'll defer to Michelle if I say anything wrong, but on the federal side, there's a a federal process called return of
title 4. And some of the students will have some of their federal money returned. At the state, we don't have that process. If they were build for that course, and they're not going to be refunded that course, which if you withdraw halfway through the semester, they're not refunding your tuition. The student keeps the grant. Um, that would
then impact the student's satisfactory academic progress. And there would be other lever levers that we could uh push and pull. Um, but yeah. And if the question is more along the lines of like they finished a semester but just didn't continue on. Um we do have the ability for students to return
within a certain amount of time and if they qualify and financially still activate their award and we do do outreach to those students to try to get them to reenroll and see if there's any barriers we can help address. >> And I don't want to lose focus on the other would be the given grant but it
just isn't. So knowing like for a given student how expensive is you know >> how expensive is their lowest cost entry point. >> It's a great question. you know, the the two years at IvyTech, the
four-year degree in I in Afghanistan, you know, wherever they live. How does that compare to our grand? >> Are you looking at the entry point of the aggregate of all four years or all two years depend or are you just looking at the one year with tuition fees and
how? Well, given that the the emphasis that I've heard on the commission about just getting people out of high school and into higher ed seemed to me that would be a particular pain point. Although completion also but just you know I I and I said this in the private
things is just what I know about federal needs calculations. They're very abstract, very arbitrary. And I just I would like it very much to that that a student who's in Indiana has this grant come they say that is just enough for me to meet this.
>> So So one example that we uh discussed if I may is um uh I mean you know in the K12 space that we are a free market. Parents can choose where to send their child. Um and yet, uh for all of our public, including traditional public,
charter, and non-public, every single school across the state has a different per student amount that they get. Every every single one. And so I think the you know it's a similar conversation uh with higher ed uh you
know for K12 there's a flat foundational rate and then there's the complexity index based on free reduced lunch and or what's really tanniff I won't get in the weeds of that but there's some different pieces and I think what you were pointing out Ted on the phone or when we
talked was um uh does that need to be considered at all? There are probably strengths and risks associated with that. But those are all I mean if our goal which it is is for students to have the best
possible access and affordability then again how can we honestly look at our model and have this discussion. So I think any any point of reference despite the positives or the risks we should uh we should talk about
not to give you a instructional tutorial also on the K12 funding formula but there are there are connections a sort of it's worth it >> perhaps even more complex than what we're talking
>> I mean some >> yes the local tax dollars all that but Yes. Wonderful. Thank you so much for your time today. Thank you. >> Great presentation. >> Yeah. Interesting. >> Did she just leave? She's like, I'm
>> there. I'll be right back. >> She's like, I am leaving. >> Drop the mic. >> All right. Great discussion that, you know, we those of us who've been on the commission for a long time, we talked about this obviously, right? uh in and
certainly things have changed from Frank you referenced to obviously reversion and some of the challenges over the last couple years when the feds change the methodology around the SAI um calculation but this to me was as
clearly described uh as I've heard um the very complex iterations that have to be done deals with this uh those challenges of predicting of that money and with now
it's obvious, you know, that makes it even more good stuff. Okay. Uh and our our final uh presentation for the day, I'd like to welcome uh Rachel Parks uh who is the um Live Techch Community College Hamilton
County uh chancellor to uh give some presentation on as part of our student success around the use of AI and student success. Welcome. Thank you all. Um, good morning. I'm Rachel Cards and I, um, like to say that I am the luckiest
lady in all of the land because I get to wake up every day and serve as the chancellor of IvyTech Hamilton County. Um, when I give presentations out into the community, I like to use this slide because it shows them where their IV IVTech is and they usually know where it
is because they're in Hamilton County, but it also shows them that they're part of something much larger and that IvyTech um serves the entire state of Indiana. Um, our campus has an entrepreneurial mindset. we like to use that spirit in order to make all of our
decisions. And I so I want to highlight that today with um how we're using AI to u influence student success. But I would be remiss to stand in front of a group of people and not first share a little bit about um the Hamilton County campus.
So for those of you who don't do not know, our campus is the newest and 19th campus in the Ivy Tech system. We became a campus, a degree granting campus in VI 2021. So we're about four and a half years old. Um in that time we have set
up eight academic schools, over 30 academic programs, and over 150 skills training programs for employers and students to receive certifications. In the spring of 2022, we had our
initial higher learning commission visit and we received full accreditation with no conditions. And if you've ever gone through an accreditation visit, um we were shocked. So, we're very very very proud of that. Um since 2021, our
enrollment has grown by over 526%. Um this as of today um actually as of yesterday this numbers from yesterday we have served just this academic year 9,448
individuals in our campus and as Dr. Polio said earlier today all of those students are IvyTech students. They have a goal in mind and we think about that number as the number of students that we serve. >> Hold on just a minute. There's a lot
going on. Yeah, it just keeps getting louder and you were doing a great job adjusting. >> I used to be a teacher. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I feel Okay, try keep going. >> Okay. Thanks. Um, but I know that there's also nuance behind that number.
So, to help you understand that a little bit more, 2,730 of those students are what you might consider your traditional undergraduate degree seeeking students. Um and to put that in perspective of higher ed in the
state of Indiana then sends um in the fall has reported that they had 3,617 students or IU Cookamo who's the closest regional campus to me has reported that they had 2,620
students. Um so we've done a lot in four and a half years is my point. Um and we are also seeing that in the return on students earning credentials. So, we've also seen an increase of earned credentials in four years of four by 419%.
Um, last May we ended with 1,181 completions. So, we're very proud of what we do. Um, 90% of our students are Hamilton County residents. And I just like to point that out um because I I want it to be clear that when we became
a campus, we're not just shifting the IvyTech enrollment. um we are truly increasing the service that we're giving to our county. Thank you for letting me um share a little bit about the campus. I could talk all day about the campus, but I'll
take you back to what I promised you I would talk about, which is using AI to support student success. So, as I've shared, our campus um really embraces an entrepreneurial mindset. And I challenge my team every day to embrace innovation
so that we can meet students needs. Essentially what I ask them to do is how can we maximize our resources? Resources are always limited so that we can maximize the meaningful time that we're spending with students. And so I had our vice chancellor for student affairs
bring me this product um a a couple of years ago at sites that I want to talk to you about today. Um the challenges that our vice chancellor were trying to meet were our exponentially fast growing enrollment numbers. Um so our enrollment growing faster than our team itself is
growing. We serve a very traditional population at IvyTech. Our average student is between that 19 and 24 bucket, but the IvyTech average student is more like the mid30s. Um, and our students live in a world where 247 they
can hop online and get an answer about anything from a chatbot. And so that's what they're expecting in their experience in higher ed as well. Um, so this is what the chatbot looks like. And Boris is our mascot. Each of the
campuses has their own mascot. We're the wild Boris. Um, and our mascot truly builds community on our campus. Our students love Boris. We even had a graduate last May who proudly showed up into our offices to show us their Boris
tattoo that they got. >> So, they really love Boris. Um, I don't have a Boris tattoo yet either, but I might have to get one. or >> we have a gip, but we should probably start with that.
>> Is there any connection to Amco as the >> I love that you I love that you got that. >> It is how we got to the to the bank. Yes. And most people most people don't get there on their own. So, congratulations to you. Yeah. Um, so
Boris, >> yeah, >> thank you for pointing that out. >> Um, so Boris is behaviorally smart chatbot. Um, and what's unique about him is that we 100% control the knowledge
base. So, this isn't an AI this isn't an AI where the student can start where the where the um AI responses are start to reform themselves based on what the students asking. We are determining how the chatbot at all times is responding
based on the knowledge that we're putting in. Um, so this is an example of a text that a student would get who is a brand new student at our campus. Um, and
it introduces themselves to Boris. They it says Boris is going to check in and also Boris is there for them if they need anything. students who are returning students. So, our students who started on Monday um and but they were here in the fall get a different message
from Boris that says welcome back and a reminder that Boris is there to help them. Boris engages with students in two different ways. First, he is reactive. So, at any point in time, a student can ask Boris a question. Um they can say,
"Hey, Boris, how do I apply for scholarships?" or hey Boris, how do I contact the advising office? Um, and Boris will respond using that knowledge base and connect them to resources. But we also can use Boris in a proactive way
through campaigns that are designed by our campus. Um, and these campaigns include things like wellness check-ins, um, reminders about important dates that are coming up. Um, we even did a campaign. We usually send these out
about seven to 10 days and we even did a campaign once that said um what do you prefer at our student events, pizza or sandwiches? And and so we're it help it's helping us um make decisions like that as well.
Um, when my student affairs officer brought this to me, I kind of thought about my own engagement with chatbots and I was a little bit hesitant because I I didn't know that our students would opt in. The narrative in higher ed is like when we reach out to students through email, when we call students,
when we personally text students live, they are not always responsive or receiving that message. um and and she convinced me and then showed me the results. So, this is after a year of using the chatbot. Um and we've had 95%
of our students opt in. Um and 59% are actively engaging. So, this means 59% of the students have responded to a text from Boris or has reached out to Boris on their own. Um so, I think that 95% is
important. I get a lot of messages um automated messages like from my doctor's office. I don't respond to that text, but I see it, right? I remember that I need to go to the doctor and I show up. And so that's why I think that optin in rate is very important because students are still seeing the messages that we're
giving. Um in the last year, um Boris has received over 6,000 texts from our from our students. Um, we've done 36 proactive check-ins. So, those are our campaigns. Again,
that's about one every seven to 10 days during the academic terms. We have had made 69 resource connections without a team having to do anything. So, this is all from our knowledge base. And then 368
questions from students that are answered through the chatbot alone. And you can oh I think you might be able to answer this right now. You can see the themes of the questions. You can say okay so the dashboard is very um
comprehensive. We can see every text message exchange with a student um and Boris and the dashboard also pulls together themes. So for example it'll tell us um at any point in time what are major concerns that are coming across.
So, we can see um right now PE students are very nervous because it's the first week of classes. Around midterms, we'll start to see that they're anxious because tests are coming up. Um and then here are some examples of of ways that students are responding back to Boris.
Um and my favorite is um to date the the one on the bottom right where a student just wanted to check in and um say good morning to our chatbot. So, they feel very connected to him. Um and then lastly, this is just an
example of one of those um weekly campaigns that we do. So this campaign we've done twice, one in fall of 2024, one in spring of 2025. And we were reaching out to students. This was kind of like that field check on how they
were doing at that point in the term. Um and by asking them their intention to return. So, the beginning of this one would look like, "Hey, are you planning on coming back in the spring term and we'll give the students emojis so that
they can respond?" Because that's how So, thumbs up if you're coming, thumbs down if you're not coming, um a different emoji if you're not sure, and then depending on that response, Boris will jump in and say, "Great, here are here's what you need in order to
register for classes." But if they say no, Boris will say, um, what's going on? And start to dig in further. Um, so through that, in the fall of 2024, Boris uncovered 84 students who were not sure
were not planning on returning. And we want them to return because we want them to be successful. And we also know from lots of of research that if a student isn't planning on returning, it's because there's a a problem that they haven't yet asked to be solved. Um, so
this allows us to jump in and solve that. So Boris then directs the students to resources. So he always gives the student an action item, but then that student is flagged in our dashboard, and that's where our human then can come in and truly wrap up their arms around the
student. So you'll see through this process and this and this is just one campaign um 21 students were able to have their issue resolved to the point that they then returned the next term. And then in spring of 2025 we had 14 of
40 students uh have return because they had that interaction in that um intervention. um some I don't have these on the slides but some um preliminary data on our overall retention rates. So we were
below 50% fall to fall before we started using Boris. Um this last fall we ended um just under 53% falltofall retention. So we've seen an increase there for our fall to spring retention of students. We were under 70% before we started using
Boris. um to yesterday we were at 76.1% for our fall fall to spring retention. Um so we are seeing this um we are seeing this through the data but we're also seeing it through the work of our teams. So our teams instead of spending
time crafting web that they feel like are being sent out into the void or the amount of staff hours it would take to individually send all of these texts. um instead of doing that, they're getting to to do what they love and why they are in higher ed, which is working directly
with the students, solving um the barriers that they need to solve. >> So, I I just want to make sure I'm you might have said it, so I want to make sure I'm understanding. So, you're saying uh in the fall, Boris uncovered 84 students. Not sure if they're coming back, but ultimately it looks like uh
you're attributing Boris's hell uh >> to >> saving 21 of those students. >> That's right. I see. Okay. With virtually no expense. >> That's right. Yeah. Speaking of, how much was it to build this Boris uh AI?
Um so our our internal team built the knowledge base, but the program is Edsites um which is a vector and they are for our campus just under 30,000 an academic year. I could not hire enough
team members um in order to do this kind of work. >> Yeah. >> Does the the AI component of this go onto the IvyTech website and information or are all the answers
prepopulated? >> So everything is prepopulated in the knowledge base. we we we weren't comfortable with having a learning AI um because that that can start to go sideways and we kind of we want to make sure that we're controlling what the
student is receiving and that we're jumping in when we need to get get creative or change the narrative a little bit. >> I was just going to say like as a student like this is fantastic because I go to USI we don't have anything like this so far but it's more automatic texts and we can't really interact and
get the resources that we need. So I think that other universities would definitely benefit from an interactive AI. Um how has this data kind of been spread to like other Ivy Techch campuses? Like have they been inspired by Boris and to also have a similar application?
>> Yes. So 14 of our campuses have now now utilized ads sites and we all have our own mascot. So they all have their version of Boris. Um and we we're seeing similar success AC across the board. Um, and and truly like it really goes back
to for me that staff time and them feeling like what the work that they're doing is really is becomes more meaningful to them because they're getting to engage with the students. Um, and that was I think my last slide. So, I'm happy to take any more questions
or I would just say um or ask what's next. So, you're using it right now for student services. What is your kind of short-term medium-term dream to leverage AI next? >> Yeah. So, we're actually looking at and
I'm kind of hesitating because I haven't touched my room. >> Ear muff, please. Um we're looking at using a similar platform on the enrollment side. Um so that we so that students can engage with the chatbot and
then we can step in um with that human touch when when they're when they're ready and needing that that human engagement on the enrollment side. And that would we would use the same product and we would follow the same methodology where we put use the uh we write the
knowledge base Can you walk us through a specific thing? For example, let's say we have a student who's very distressed um mental property. Yeah. >> So, we would hope student I'm not, you
know, down. I don't know if I like living action. >> Yeah. So, we've actually had that happen um a couple of times. And um so the the first time it happened, a student wrote something very similar to what they said. I'm not going to be able to quote
it. Um and um and that immediately gets flagged into our system and an alert is sent to our team and then our team um so in this case the team picked up the phone and called that person. And this specific case the student was very embarrassed because they had no idea
that somebody would respond. They were just playing with AI. Um and so we um >> Yeah. Um so the student in that case was okay. um that happened very early on and we were very thankful for it because it
it allowed us to trust that Boris was going to notice um these moments of stress and and reach out to us when we needed to. And we've seen that not that elevated um as the student who um was stating that they were planning to take
their own life. Um but um we've been able to step in and and help students uh when we see like increased anxiety or stress or we had a student loion um like severe depression. So we're able to connect them to resources faster. Um
I think those students we would still we would still notice but it would take it would take a little bit longer for a faculty member or that advising appointment for somebody to reach out to that student. question. Thank you for the
presentation. By the way, couple of questions. If you're credential for 19 or 419% have been any guidance as to the breakdown of social entries. Yeah, I I
do not have those numbers with me and I hesitate to um to say them off the top of my head, but um I certainly could get those. That's going to next question
see the growth in five years from 2020 plus start serve at 948 27 traditional ball commissioner's question what's
what's the next canvas >> yeah um that's a great question and we Um and we also need to put your mouth on this one. Um well, so we when when when when we became a site in H in Hamilton
County um for the first five years we were under Indianapolis and we were serving uh consistently about a thousand students as a site and in the college um and that was heavily endorsed by a lot of people decided based on data that we weren't meeting the need of Hamilton
County and that's why we became a degree granting campus. Um and so we're looking at that data right now. We know that with those with those 9,000 students we're serving, we're barely scratching the surface. We were able to stand up a nursing program um this January. We we
started with 40 a year this January. We doubled. So we now have 80 a year. Um and a medical assisting program, but that doesn't begin to tap into the health care needs in the county. So there's certainly a need for expansion. um medical imaging comes um um comes to
the top of a lot of conversations in the advanced manufacturing space in our facility. We are able to offer a construction program and a welding program. Um but we have a lot of life sciences in Hamilton County and we have a lot of manufacturing in Hamilton County. So we're not even beginning to
scratch the need there. Um, so we're in the middle of looking at master academic plans and master space plans which would come with significant renovations. The reason we're not offering those programs right now is because we're constrained by the space that we have
>> to be, you know, more direct. We're looking at ways so in order for her to continue to increase because of the size of the space. She is in the former Noblesville High School space and it is a high school and it's a nice building but space is extremely
limited. So we're looking at options of how we would expand, renovate the building, whatever that might be so that she could begin off and board those programs to continue to expand. >> So you mentioned that when you heard of the student that was having mental
health issues that you were able to call them. So I'm assuming this is an anonymous. Are you seeing any patterns of what which students are thinking like is it first generation or 21st century scholar some patterns there? Yeah, I love that question because we were going through I was going through the themes
that was pulling out just this week um so that I could um before I came here today and one of one theme that pulled out for example is it said um we've noticed that the students assigned to this specific advisor are expressing a
lot of financial need and so we're able we were able then to like d so it's looking at the students advis like all different aspects of the students um and then identifying themes that they're seeing. So, we can start to dig into
that data. It um our that particular advisor was our nursing and healthcare um advisor and we see a lot of a lot of financial need in that population. Um but now we're able to reach out to those students. We're able to touch base with our foundation. We're able to make sure
I care is touching base. So, there's a lot that we can do there. Um, I don't have specific data on like 21st century um or first generation, but um I'm going to take that back to the team and see what I can find out. >> Other comments or questions? A great
presentation. Hey, >> uh so that brings us to the end of our meeting. Um unless there any final words of wisdom, >> all the wisdom, you understand. deamper. Um, so I would like to end this meeting
in maybe a little different way and kind of how it started with the red with the IU. >> Are you going to start the chant? >> No. No. >> And we're not going to do Fernando song. Um, I I feel a little sensitive
that we're giving so much love to IOU, which is appropriate of course. So instead, let me let me start. I would like to end by saying go USI. Woo! >> Indiana's all silly.
>> I know someone I think that >> go boiler or there's 19 of them. That's correct. The fees. >> That's right. That is correct. Um, >> go Purdue. And most importantly, given the context we're in for right now, go
iO. Now, if you would like to do the boohoo who >> Thank you. >> Thank you all. Good luck. Good luck. >> Good luck. >> Go Fernando. Welcome