Indiana

Private colleges bring students to Indiana. We need state support. | Opinion

Published

10 months ago

February 12, 2025

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Private colleges bring students to Indiana. We need state support. | Opinion

Why not use incentives to encourage students to grow roots here and become Hoosiers for life?

Tanuja Singh
| Opinion Contributor

Indiana and Indiana businesses — from the smallest not-for-profits and startups to the Fortune 500s — need talented college graduates who have the skills needed for today’s world.

Indiana is an attractive destination when it comes to recruiting students to its universities and colleges. But our advantage evaporates when it comes to retaining these graduates; we rank 40th in the country in terms of college graduate retention. Since the Indiana Commission for Higher Education started tracking this metric more than five years ago, this problem of brain drain among the best and brightest is not merely persistent, it is getting worse.

Somewhat surprisingly, this is not a new phenomenon. A landmark (and eye-opening) 1999 study conducted by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute found that Indiana retained its graduates at a rate almost 30% below the national average. Almost 25 years later, the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated Indiana was a net exporter of college graduates, the 11th worst state in the nation.

This trend is particularly troubling because business investment in Indiana is growing at a record pace, at least partly because of our business-friendly environment. According to the Indiana Economic Development Corp., 2024 marked the eighth consecutive record-breaking year bringing in more than $39 billion of capital investments. The question is whether Indiana can support the talent needs required to buttress and grow these investments in industries that increasingly require college level skills.

To its credit, Indiana retains 67% of Hoosier graduates who earn a bachelor’s degree at an Indiana college or university. However, that number is only 15% for non-residents, according to Indiana’s latest State of Higher Education report.

If you are looking for a silver lining, private institutions like the University of Indianapolis are far more successful in retaining their graduates. More than 90% of our college graduates last year had a positive career outcome — either by finding a relevant job in their field or going onto graduate school. And more than 91% of our undergraduates who chose the employment route remained in Indiana.

But it’s not just UIndy. Private institutions across Indiana retained 71% of their bachelor graduates after one year, and almost 70% five years after graduation, according to data from the Independent Colleges of Indiana. Compare that to Indiana’s public postsecondary institutions which retained 61% of baccalaureate graduates after one year from 2007 to 2018.

Much has changed since 2018 and there are some clear signs of progress, but the challenge remains. We are a net importer of students but a net exporter of those successfully completing their education. Private institutions, including UIndy, also attracted 44% of their freshmen from outside Indiana — which means they are net importers of out-of-state students. That statistic alone should make us think about how we might change the flow from a brain drain to a brain gain.

So what can be done to support private colleges that are bringing talented students to our state? I urge our state lawmakers to recognize the importance of all 29 independent colleges of Indiana: Include them in the conversation around talent development and support them with financial assistance and legislative decisions.

This is not an emotional argument. It is supported by the math. Consider this return on investment data: For every dollar that the state provides to ICI institutions, the state of Indiana gets $70 worth of economic impact. In addition, ICI institutions contribute $1.6 billion in salaries, wages and benefits for their employees.

Their graduates represent 29% of all Hoosier baccalaureate degrees and 36% of all STEM and nursing degrees — no small feat considering the well-earned respect Indiana’s public universities and colleges have in these fields. But while 31% of ICI students are eligible for a Pell grant based on financial need, just 21% of ICI students receive a state grant. Furthermore, the average cost to Indiana taxpayers for each public college bachelor’s degree is more than 10 times higher than an ICI bachelor’s degree ($56,524 vs. $5,436).

Would it not be a worthwhile investment to entrust additional appropriations with those who are bringing young minds to Indiana and keeping them here? Independent colleges and universities bring talent to Indiana, help them develop the skills needed by Hoosier employers and work intentionally to provide them experiential learning opportunities, many of them with our local employers, during their educational training.

There is ample evidence that if students are exposed to experiential learning opportunities such as internships, work-based learning and project-based learning with employers while in college, they are much more likely to stay engaged with the same employers beyond graduation.

We know that incentives like the Hoosier Business Investment Tax Credit or the Headquarters Relocation Tax Credit are attractive tools to encourage investment in Indiana. Why not use similar incentives to encourage people and students to grow roots here and become Hoosiers for life?

For example, Maine offers an Educational Opportunity Tax Credit for students and employers making educational loan payments at both in-state and out-of-state institutions. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. promotes its talent pipeline with the Michigander Scholars Program to meet the needs of the tech workforce with scholarships of up to $10,000 to students who commit to stay in-state for 12 months.

More investment is needed at the private institutions that are educating and training the future Hoosier workforce. Just like the long-lasting benefit brought by a tax incentive for a physical building, it only makes sense to support this with dollars and cents. It’s imperative for us to work together, public and private, to solve our ongoing brain drain problem to create a stronger Indiana for us all.

Tanuja Singh is the 10th President of the University of Indianapolis.

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Indiana

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Published

8 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Former UConn forward, NBC Sports broadcaster Donny Marshall knows a thing or two about talented UConn guards.

The former Husky played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun and was teammates with the fifth pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, 10-time NBA All-Star Ray Allen. Watching UConn play against Butler on Tuesday night, Marshall said he sees a lot of Allen in reigning Indiana Mr. Basketball Braylon Mullins.

Mullins made the second start of his career against the Bulldogs. The former Greenfield-Central star missed UConn’s first six games of the regular season with an injury, but the 6-foot-6 guard is quickly coming into his own and showing why he’s a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Against Butler, Mullins showed off his sweet jump shot, going 2 for 5 from 3-point range. He finished with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.

“He’s a scorer,” Butler coach Thad Matta said of Mullins. “He’s got a scorer’s mentality. He gets his shot off quick. They move him around and create some angles for him. Obviously, he’s a heck of a player.”

Mullins did most of his damage in the first half, scoring eight of his 12 points before halftime. The former five-star recruit was the highest-ranked player in UConn’s 2025 class. Butler’s top-ranked recruit, Azavier “Stink” Robinson isn’t the NBA prospect Mullins is, but he held his own after a shaky start to the game.

Robinson has been thrust into the starting lineup with starter Jalen Jackson out for the season with an ankle injury. Robinson looked out of sorts at times in the first half, going scoreless with two assists and a turnover. In the second half, Matta moved him off the ball, giving him catch-and-shoot looks, and opportunities to drive to the basket without worrying about running the offense.

The former Lawrence North star responded with one of the better halves of his career, scoring 10 points on 3 for 6 shooting, including 2 for 5 from 3 to go along with two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one turnover.

Facing a veteran team like UConn, nothing comes easy. UConn’s guards harass ball handlers and getting into an offensive set is not easy. This time last year, Robinson was still in high school and, on most nights, the most athletic player on the court. Playing a UConn team where the goal is a national championship, Robinson was forced to grow, and he did not back down from the challenge in the second half.

“He’s coming along,” Matta said of Robinson. “That’s the first Big East road game of his career against maybe the best team in the country. It tells you how tough he is. He’s resilient. He keeps going.”

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Indiana

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Published

20 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Curt Cignetti has been named The Associated Press coach of the year in college football for the second consecutive season. He is the first coach to win the award back-to-back since it was first presented in 1998. Cignetti has led Indiana to unprecedented success, with a 24-2 record over two seasons. The Hoosiers are 13-0 this year, Big Ten champions for the first time since 1967, and the top seed in the College Football Playoff. Cignetti received 47 first-place votes. Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea received two each, and Virginia’s Tony Elliott got one.

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Indiana

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS — Some schools in central Indiana are planning to close or delay the start of their classes on Tuesday.

The closures and delays come in the wake of a difficult weekend of severe winter weather in the Hoosier State. On Saturday, a wintry system dumped more than six inches of snow in some portions of the state.

Points north of Indianapolis like Lafayette received between three and four inches of snow. Towns south of the Circle City like Seymour saw similar snowfall totals. As for Indianapolis itself, more than five inches of snow were recorded in some portions of the city.

After Saturday’s snow, frigid temperatures took hold in the area. A Cold Weather Advisory was issued for much of the state as wind chill values dipped well below zero.

The cold and snow triggered a bevy of school closings and delays for Monday. Schools began to announce delays and closures for Tuesday late Monday night as snow removal crews across the state continued to try to keep roadways clear.

Though some schools plan to close or delay the start of classes on Tuesday, temperature improvements are forecasted. High temperatures are anticipated to exceed the 32-degree freezing threshold and hit 36 degrees. The warming trend is expected to continue on both Wednesday and Thursday, with high temperatures forecasted to reach 40 and 50 degrees, respectively.

Precipitation is forecasted for Thursday, though temperatures are expected to remain warm enough for Indiana to get rain instead of snow.

FOX59/CBS4 is tracking the closures and delays schools plan to implement on Tuesday. Check out the latest available list of closings below:

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