Indiana University East is honored to be a place where first-generation college students can achieve and succeed.
In fact, I am a real-life example of how first-generation success can transform a person’s life. As we celebrate first-generation students, I am humbled to be among those who seek to improve their lives and the lives of others through education.
Being a first-generation college student starts with humble individuals seeking to achieve what they have not seen achieved by their parents and others. Through hard work, aspirations of greater success, and commitment to education, first-generation students hail from homes and families where their parent(s) or guardian(s) did not earn a bachelor’s degree. Indiana University East is where these students can turn their academic and career dreams into reality.
Nearly one-fourth of all college attendees in the United States are first-generation students. In 2023, just over 18,000 first-generation students enrolled at an Indiana University campus.
At IU East, a generous number of students are seeking to become the first in their families to accomplish the goals of a college education; thus, our leadership, faculty, and community are committed to providing a place where students know they belong and can attain their college education.
In Fall 2024, 841 first-generation students enrolled, about 26% of our student body. This includes degree-seeking and non-degree-seeking students. For perspective, 769 are degree-seeking, 541 are in an online program plan and 228 are in campus-based program plans.
Our College Now program finds us partnering with regional high school teachers, counselors, and families to identify juniors and seniors attending Centerville High School, Hagerstown High School, Lincoln High School, Northeastern High School, Richmond High School, or Seton High School for the expressed purpose of enrolling up to 15 high school students per school in two courses per semester (Richmond High School can enroll up to 30 students).
Plans are currently underway to expand our offerings to pre-college students, so they can experience the campus and student experience.
To address historical challenges with underrepresentation, the campus is home to the extension of one of the nation’s longest-running secondary to post-secondary bridge programs – the Groups Scholars Program. The Groups Scholars Program is our university-wide effort to increase college attendance among first-generation, underrepresented students at Indiana University.
By providing student support services that focus on academic enrichment, financial resources, and social support, both inside and outside the classroom, Indiana University in this region seeks to be the catalyst for life-changing academic and career experiences. At IU East, we know that students are our focus, and academic success is institutional success.
Our faculty, staff, students, and alumni know that if college was not an accessible, affordable, high-quality Indiana University education, their lives would be dramatically different; however, for more than fifty years, this campus has been home to the dreams, visions, and hard work of its more than 14,000 graduates, many of whom are first-generation.
Every day we celebrate the hard work and achievements of our students. Regardless of their pathways, we seek to provide an educational experience that is personally enriching and populated with a campus of caring individuals who understand that although college is not easy, we believe in our student’s ability to graduate.
May the work of our institutions, especially in this east central Indiana and west central Ohio region, continue to be a catalyst for life-changing academic experiences that advance lifelong success.
Dennis M. Rome, PhD
Chancellor