Branching out: entrepreneurial colleges blanket the state with locations.

• Author: McKimmie, Kathy
• Position: Education

UNLIKE TRADITIONAL college students enrolling immediately after high school, most adult learners are juggling a full-time job and family responsibilities, while taking a full load of classes to meet specific career objectives. Convenience, therefore, is a major factor in their selection of a university.

"We have really tried to market convenience," says James Barnes, president, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion. "That should not he associated with lack of rigor. The way we operate, you register one time and only one time. Every course you need to complete your program is offered in sequence. We can tell you precisely when you'll finish. We UPS your textbooks to you."

Indiana Wesleyan was one of the first institutions in the state to offer degree completion programs in the adult education market when it began in 1985, says Barnes. When he came on board two years later, it had 750 students enrolled in Marion and Indianapolis. Now, it has 8,400 students in adult programs, average age 38 to 40, and has expanded its major Indiana sites to include Columbus, Fort Wayne, Kokomo and Shelbyville, and out-of-state locations to Cincinnati, Cleveland and Louisville. The university also conducts courses at more than 90 locations that include work sites, and will present a program whenever 15 or more students pursue the same degree.

Institutions expand in Indiana. Just as Indiana Wesleyan has moved across state lines to reach new students, so have out-off-state universities gravitated to Indiana.

Originally established in Michigan as Grand Rapids Business College in 1866, Davenport University now has 27 locations serving 13,500 students in associate's to master's degree programs in business, health care and information technology In the mid-'80s, Davenport began offering courses in South Bend/Mishawaka and Merrillville, and now has satellite facilities in Hammond and Goshen, with a total 1,250 Indiana students. Enrollments are growing by 3 to 5 percent a year, says Al Wetherell, executive vice president for operations.

More than 96 percent of Davenport's students are working adults, with an average age of 31. But the university has turned its attention to high school grads in the last four years, with 500 enrolled system wide and 38 enrolled finis fall in South Bend and Merrillville. "We have an inverted curriculum," says "Wetherell. "We start with technology, health care or business courses early on. Traditional universities start off with general...