HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Ivy Tech looking at layoffs, campus closures.

Since it became Indiana’s statewide two-year college system in 2005, Ivy Tech Community College’s enrollment has grown by more than 60,000 students. Along the way the college has been called a national model for statewide efficiency and received praise for close ties to employers.

During that time Ivy Tech has also developed serious financial problems.

College officials say state funding has failed to keep pace with enrollment, which hit 166,000 students last year. The system is now wrestling with how to close a $68 million funding gap, including the possible closure of up to 20 of its 76 campus locations.

Ouch.

UPDATE: Reader Mark Raftery writes:

They may need to close some of their smaller campuses for financial reasons, but Ivy Tech is a god-send for middle class parents and students. It is five to ten times cheaper than traditional colleges, the facilities are first-rate, and the students can continue to live at home and work while they study. Two of my children got 2-year degrees from Ivy Tech, one continued with a program from Indiana University East to get a bachelors degree, with classes at the ivy-tech campus in our town. There is a good reason so many students are now attending Ivy Tech, which is a unquestionable value for that education dollar.

Good to hear.