This program is made possible through the financial support of Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations.

Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Chris Lowry delivers his State of Higher Education Address, part of an ongoing public engagement effort designed to promote and increase college enrollment, completion and graduate retention, delivered April 15th, 2024, from the Indiana Statehouse.

Good afternoon.

Distinguished guests, colleagues, partners, friends and family.

I am delighted you could join us as we take stock of higher education in Indiana.

My message today to you will be one of hope.

Hope in the form of Hoosier opportunities and possibilities through education.

And when we gathered here just a year ago, it was my commitment to you that we would be very candid with you, that we would be transparent about the challenges and that we would illustrate ways in which together we might address them to set high expectations for all of us and to begin laying the groundwork for a strategic plan of action.

Since that time, people here and others throughout the state have been working tirelessly toward those ends, executing with deep commitment and fidelity in the process.

Today, challenges certainly remain, but we have more reasons than in decades to be hopeful about the potential for positive impact.

Let me share more.

More than a decade ago, our state adopted a big goal to have more than 60% of our working age adults equipped with training and education beyond a high school diploma.

At that time, the measure concentrated on associate degrees and above.

We were 39th in the nation, according to the most recently available data dating back to the spring of 22.

When I was asked to take on this role.

We are still 39th in the nation, I said last year, and I will say it again, folks, that is simply unacceptable.

Certainly, though, progress has been made in related areas, specifically in the sub associate degree space with technical certificates and certificates and industry certifications.

In that space, Indiana is now fifth in the nation.

That overall places us at 28th in the nation.

We can we can and must do better when assembling here.

A year ago, I shared the fundamentals of the challenges we identified.

In response, I introduced what we were just beginning to call the Hope Agenda Hoosier opportunities and possibilities through education.

It challenges us to be a top ten state by 2030.

In seven important measures.

First, our college going rate had been precipitously declining for more than a decade, down to 53% overall.

And I remind you that as any training and education beyond a high school diploma.

Second, our adult population had been pursuing, had not been pursuing training and education beyond high school, beyond a high school diploma, at a at a rate to remain competitive in today's workforce.

Third, credit for prior learning, a proven strategy to account for work, experiences and training of adults in order to receive college credits was only fully being leveraged in a handful of states.

At the time, Indiana was not one of them.

Fourth, our college completion rate had been improving for several years, but still one third of students never graduate or take more than six years to complete.

And fifth, a focus on graduate retention for the first time.

Our public and private universities attract students from across the country and across the globe.

Indiana ranks ninth best in the nation at attracting students from out of state and out of our country.

Unfortunately, we're 36th at retaining those graduates, building off of subsequent successes.

Those five areas will lead us to a broader vision of the last two goals of the Hope agenda.

The sixth area of focus is measurable distinction in economic and social mobility and prosperity.

So why does that matter?

Because we know with additional levels of educational attainment beyond high school, the prospects for an individual, her or his family communities, our state improve in terms of economic data.

Each level of higher at each level of education beyond a high school diploma makes a difference.

Moving from no high school diploma to a diploma, then an associate degree or some college and a bachelor's degree in higher.

There are significant, significantly better results in terms of unemployment, labor participation, wages and net wealth accumulation.

The unemployment rate for someone in our state with less than a high school diploma is nearly three times higher than individuals with a bachelor's degree and higher.

Their labor participation rates in that same comparison are about 30 points higher for the bachelor's and higher degree.

Median wages are about twice as high for a bachelor's degree holder as a high school diploma holder.

In our state.

By the way, social outcomes are starkly different, too.

Infant mortality is twice as high on average for individuals in a home with less than a high school diploma than for those with a bachelor's degree and higher twice.

And life expectancy is 13 years greater in the home of college graduate.

With each level of education and across these and other economic and social factors.

There are marked improvements with training and education beyond high school.

Lastly, our seventh goal is to be a top ten state to grow or start a business based on the strength of human capital.

Our state already is a top ten in terms of business friendly environment, taxation, regulation, infrastructure and so forth.

We can absolutely be a state where our greatest strength is human capital, economic and social mobility and prosperity, along with strength of human capital, should just be part of our regular conversations.

Related.

Over the past couple of years, I've been provoked and inspired often including by a few books on these words.

A common thread, as you might expect, has been the role of education and higher education, whether in slouching towards Utopia, the rise of the global middle class leadership and others.

This role has been clear in the advancement of individuals and of societies.

The fact is, what we know of as the middle class.

It is something that did not exist 225 years ago.

Today, however, it's fascinating.

Demographers are beginning to predict when the 5,000,000,000th person on earth will be able to claim middle class, far exceeding now 4 billion people.

Folks, that is breathtaking to a great degree and often cited by researchers.

Certain other things can claim much credit from the expansion for the expansion of the global middle class, things like trade markets, the modern corporation division of labor production, those willing to take risk.

However, the threat of education and higher education is clear.

It knits together and is crucial to the fabric, to the fabric of this march toward the middle class and out of poverty.

For millions now, billions of people.

The rate at which productivity has increased over the millennia of human existence has accelerated at exponential paces in the past 200 years.

From automobiles and medicine to agriculture and technology, advancements have come through once unimaginable inventions and people able to execute them with keen skills and capabilities.

Research, testing, modeling and the like have been possible because someone had gained knowledge through education.

Further workforces have been developed so that innovation might be brought to life and marketed and yes, monetized to the betterment of individuals in the concentric circle.

Beyond a spark of of an original idea, all of this results in economic and social mobility and prosperity through the strength of human capital, and it provides the underpinning for the incredible expansion of and preservation of not only the global middle class, but the middle class.

Right here in Indiana last year, we began putting together a strategic plan and a strategic framework.

To these ends, we realized this could not be done alone, first of all.

So about a year ago, we formed something we are calling the Partnership Pentagon.

We invited leaders from five areas across civil society to help us, to push us and to pull us if necessary.

Now, dozens of leaders from business, education, government, community and faith based organizations and philanthropy, many here today meet with us regularly.

A set of policy and programmatic recommendations around this work.

And to complement the hope the Hope agenda will be forthcoming this summer.

In addition, we have reorganized our own agency internally to improve on efficiencies and effectiveness.

One key thing we have done is to create a business intelligence team.

You will see more of their work over the coming months as we move from reports constituted primarily of two year lagging data to real time dashboards focusing on each metric in the HOPE agenda.

Of course, still having the lagging data, but now having leading indicators and beginning to forecast around every one of our initiatives.

We owe it to all of you.

And for the first time in our agency, each individual has three individual goals.

All aligned to at least one of the agenda items.

One of the items in the Hope agenda with further and unwavering support from Governor Holcomb and the Legislature.

Significant movement has been made in the past 12 to 18 months and early indicators are offering evidence of success.

The Frank OBannon Grant, specifically geared toward helping low income students was increased by 35%, restoring cuts that were made in 2009 during the Great Recession.

Historic legislation was signed into law less than a year ago, expanding the 32 year old 21st Century Scholars Program.

Because of this, we are now able to automatically enroll eligible students in the seventh and eighth grade.

Rather than trying to chase them down before they go to high school in 2022, prior to automatic enrollment, our state only enrolled in 2022.

Our state only enrolled about 20,000 students, less than half eligible on June 30th of 2023.

We enrolled all eligible eighth grade students exceeding 46,000 kids.

And folks, it's more than about just the enrollment.

This work does make a difference and it matters.

A 21st century scholar has an 81% college going rate, while their low income peers, those specifically who had not gotten signed up in the past, only have a 30% going rate.

One student who truly embodies the potential of the 21st Century Scholars Program is Shye Robinson.

Shye currently serves as student body president at Purdue University at West Lafayette and is a double major in political science and brain and behavioral science.

Shye's road has not been an easy one.

She is a first generation college student and spent much of her child of her childhood in the foster system.

I credit Shye's perseverance and drive that have brought her to this place.

But sometimes these barriers outside of the control of students preventing them from pursuing their education and dreams exist.

Shye, though, has said, I am who I am today because of the people I've met, the places I've gone, and the experiences I've had at Purdue University with 21st Century Scholars.

We can ensure students like Shye don't have the financial burden and have access to extra support and resources they need to ease their transition into college.

beyond the 21st century.

Scholars Automatic enrollment.

There are other multiple wins throughout these past legislative sessions.

Last legislative sessions do in great part by our friends on the third floor and in the governor's office after failing years in a row.

Legislation requiring the FASFA for graduating high school seniors passed.

We're now the eighth state in the nation to make this a requirement.

Next, funding was made available for career coaching and navigation grants that will help connect high school students with college and career options.

This opens the potential for even younger students to be began exploring and engaging and experiencing these options.

Additionally, our team initiated what is now called Indiana Pre admissions.

It's a strategy only the third kind of its kind in the nation.

Matching up student GPAs and SAT scores with requirements from almost all of our public and private institutions in Indiana.

We were able to notify about 80% of this year's high school seniors of the colleges and universities to which they could be admitted right here in Indiana.

That was nearly 57,000 thousand students who learned on average they had been or could be accepted to 24 different institutions in Indiana.

Our for some, by the way, it was as high as 38.

Our goal here was to create a much friendlier marketplace for students and their families.

And yes, to keep as much talent as possible in our state.

This September, we will be able to notify all Indiana High school seniors some 75,000 or so.

This initiative influenced additional proactive enrollment approaches from our universities.

For example, Teagan Rose is with us today, a senior at Shortridge High School.

She, Teagan, learned that she would be directly admitted to Indiana University at Indianapolis.

This was made possible by the institution's new Seamless Admissions initiative.

With Indianapolis Public Schools now, Teagan again with us today, is on her way to IU Indy in the fall.

Tegan please stand so we can celebrate you and your accomplishments.

Teagan Thank you for being here.

And Superintendent Johnson, thank you for your leadership and partnership.

I have heard countless stories from parents and students about the impact pre admissions had in inspiring hope for students, students who might not have realized how close they were to pursuing their dreams.

Further, our team stepped up to my challenge of significantly increasing the number of schools offering the Indiana College Core.

When I arrived just about two years ago, only 84 out of over 500 high schools in our states in our state were offering the Indiana College core.

Four months later, that number was up to 149.

This past fall, it was at 222 and we're on our way to 300.

The Indiana College core benefits students by saving time and money and allowing them to graduate with a full year of college credit already under their belt.

Students who enroll with this credential are shown to go to college at over 90%, and they earn a degree at the highest rates of any students.

Also, career and technical education found its home at the Commission on July one of 2023, which, by the way, I have felt for a long time made complete sense.

CTE, as it is known, provides college and career preparation with the opportunity of earning credentials while in high school through stackable pathways.

The alignment with our mission and other work is just completely logical.

Lastly, for 2023, with strong support from Governor Holcomb and the Indiana General Assembly, we proposed and have now begun implementing a revised outcomes based performance funding formula to expand on the already existing area of completion.

This accountability and incentive structure now focuses on enrollment, completion, graduate retention and research.

This is the most comprehensive revamp of this formula in its history.

Building on the progress of late 2022 and 2023, Senate Enrolled Act eight was a priority build.

This session for Governor Holcomb and the Commission authored by now higher education champion Senator Jean Leasing.

It passed unanimously in the House and Senate.

It has four distinct areas of focus.

The bill requires all high schools to either offer the Indiana College Core or provide an implementation plan to the committee to the commission, which should effectively double the number of schools offering it.

Further, this new law standardizes the reverse transfer process.

It also requires our four year public institutions to offer or make plans to offer bachelor's degrees in three year formats, and it charges our team with examining the feasibility and advisability of four year institutions offering associate degrees.

This last measure would help students who have who ultimately would have stepped out of college after earning enough credits to do so.

All of these elements in Senate Enrolled Act eight are aimed squarely at making college attainment more likely through increased affordability and accessibility.

So what are some of the other early indicators and results from some of these strategic initiatives?

For the first time in 13 years, higher education is up.

Higher education enrollment is up in the state of Indiana, the first time in 13 years.

Our completion rates are in.

Indiana is now 11th in the nation.

I'm pleased, not satisfied.

Each of our public institutions has a strategic plan to aggressively address graduate retention again, to keep talent right here in Indiana.

A formal framework to fully implement credit for prior learning was officially adopted just last month, placing Indiana as one of only nine states to do so.

And recommendations from the first of three strategic task forces focusing on adult populations, specifically in this instance for veterans and those in military service are now being implemented.

Moving forward, what will be our focus?

We will continue to be candid, transparent and focused on operational excellence as we implement with speed and fidelity.

we will wrap up the most comprehensive consumer research ever conducted in the state of Indiana, focused exclusively on the value and value perceptions of higher education in our state.

The data and insights from this in-depth study will bring additional strategies and initiatives to complement the Hope agenda.

We must understand better the realities, the concerns, the questions, the attitudes, the once the thinking of consumers who might be future learners and students.

To do anything less, I believe would be arrogant and negligent.

Lastly, we will be talking more about and encourage you to join us in sharing the shining examples our state is already offering in higher education and training and education beyond a high school diploma.

Folks, we're going to shed some Hoosier humility.

A few stats for you.

Indiana is first and the first in the Midwest and fifth in the nation in need based financial aid.

In fact, the commission administers over $400 million each year in state aid.

As I mentioned earlier, Indiana is now fifth in the nation in attainment of associate degree credentials.

Our higher ed institutions are sixth in the nation at holding the line on tuition and have been for more than a decade.

And when accounting for inflation, tuition rates have actually dropped at our public schools in Indiana over this past ten years.

Again, I remind you to add to this list.

Indiana is ninth best at attracting students to our state's public and private institutions.

You know, folks, some people wait for those arbitrary rankings to come out in newspapers and magazines every year.

You know, I just have to tell you right now, I am someone who believes in the blunt truths of the free markets.

Our state holds this ranking because we have incredibly high quality institutions providing their offerings at a competitive price, which is backed up by a state that is supported, supportive and committed to this work, especially as shown these past few years.

One of the reasons Indiana is built, bending the curve and leading the way is because of innovative and impactful work being done at our seven public institutions in alphabetical order.

Ball State University has created the County Ambassador program, which supports recruiting, mentoring and retaining of students right here in Indiana.

Indiana State University's Indiana State Advantage provides tuition and academic support to under-resourced students and has increased persistence for those students by 7%.

Indiana University recently announced more than a quarter billion dollars worth of investments in life, science and biotechnology, education and research.

Ivy Tech Community College has implemented their career link plus at every campus.

Driving structure career stats, Strategies for every Student.

Purdue University recently announced the nearly $4 billion investment by AI chip manufacturer, SK Hynix, to build an advanced research and manufacturing facility.

The University of Southern Indiana has launched the precise Goal Summer Institute, an initiative to support first generation students in their transition to higher education.

And then since university has recently announced its four and a half million dollars expansion of their aviation maintenance programing across the state, Today, I want to close with a similar tone to last year's one, as you might guess, of hope.

Last year was the wakeup call, and this year the data tell us we're on the right path.

But work remains.

As someone or some of you who know me pretty well might guess I'm pleased but not satisfied with combined efforts of policy partnerships and programing driven by clear strategy and goals, underpinned by a strong strategic management process and with an understanding of service to commitment to students at the heart of all of it.

We are working to create a culture around the importance of higher education and more broadly, training and education beyond a high school diploma.

Even more importantly, the work is centered on creating more proper communities and possibilities for economic and social mobility and prosperity for every one of our fellow Hoosiers.

Leading Indicators such as enrollment and others I have shared today are telling us that those efforts are starting to work.

before we formally meet here again, I look forward to working with all of you over the next 52 weeks to improve the outcomes for Hoosier students, employers, communities and our great state.

I'm hopeful that when we gather here next year, we will have even more progress to celebrate.

Thank you for the grace you have shown me each day.

And please accept my heartfelt gratitude for all you are doing and will do as we move forward together in service.

This program is made possible through the financial support of Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations.