Ivy Tech Community College — Attraction in Indianapolis

I'll start by saying I have NEVER, in all my born days, dealt with such disorganization. Ivy Tech's employees must have degrees in "passing the buck," because there is absolutely no accountability. A little bit of my story: I applied to Ivy Tech several years ago... maybe 2007 or 2008. I never registered. I applied to Ivy Tech on December 29, 2015 after things did not work out with another university. A week later, when I hadn't received my acceptance packet, I called to inquire. I called again in another week, and again after three weeks. Each time, I received the same, generic response, "You should be receiving your packet soon." Approaching the fourth week, I attempted live chat with a rep. This rep advised there was a problem with my account. That being said, they sent my information to a "specialist" who would contact me within 1-3 business days. On the FOURTH business day, I contacted 888-IVY-LINE, once again. They were no help, once again. I contacted the admissions office at Ivy Tech by e-mail. After five days with no response, I forwarded the e-mail that I had sent five days prior with a note that I had sent this e-mail five days ago and had yet to receive a response. Someone replied, almost immediately, giving me contact information for a couple admissions advisors. I contacted one of them. She was very helpful. In fact, she's the only reason this review has two stars instead of one. At this time I learned that 888-IVY-LINE is answered by some off-site call center in Kentucky, where they have little knowledge of Ivy Tech. This sounds logical, right? Admissions told me I needed to submit a transcript. So, to hurry things along, I went to my high school, got a transcript, waited for 2 hours at Ivy Tech to turn it in, just to be told that THEY DID NOT NEED IT. Not only did they not need it, the information COULD NOT BE USED, because I had been out of school for 4+ years. So, they tell me that I'm required to turn something in, wasting hours of my time, when that information was useless to them. Great! With all this happening, I have missed the January start date. Cool. I'll start in March. No worries. Wrong! At the last minute, they tell me I need a tax return transcript. Well, I filed my taxes late. So, the IRS takes longer to get the tax return transcript. Had Ivy told me I needed that a month ago, I could've had the IRS on it earlier, getting it back earlier. Now, I can't even start in March.

The point, and my biggest complaint, is this: GET YOUR STUFF TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!! How on Earth can an organization this large be such a MESS?? Why do you not have a training program that allows your reps to better understand the system and answer questions. It turned out that all of this could be fixed by a 3 minute phone call to IT to ask them to reset my account. That's all it took. Ivy Tech needs some serious management changes. SERIOUS management changes. I think their administration would be better suited running a small elementary school or a daycare. IF I RAN MY BUSINESS THIS WAY, I WOULD HAVE N...

Intro and initial advice: First I advise being a person who was in the military make sure to ask lost of questions who, what, when, where, and why some times you will have to jump the chain of command to get things done or questions answered other wise you will be stuck at the low level paper shufflers for eternity. You will run to problems no matter what establishment you work with.

What I like: The teachers I have met so fare seem nice and helpful. The tuition is affordable for the most part and I can pay it myself working almost minimum wage because my parents are unable to contribute(I am deathly afraid of student debt so I pay in cash). They do have people who will give you mental health issues counseling and assistance on how to save and spend you money for school through the Dave Ramsey Program.

The problems: But the whole finical aid stuff has been a big disappointment because it was hard to find out any information besides the words "I did not qualify" which after a lot of effort I found out that my dad makes too much and I am 21 and not 24. It took a lot to make them happy and in the end nothing. I had to fill out a lot of paper work and change my degree from an online to a face to face. The student advisers I had to see to change this did not even know what to do (this was not first time had to see one of these people and having the same kind of result). I ended up having to ask one of the professors for help and explain to me what had to be done (and that person actually seemed to know what they were doing). But in the end Financial Aid blocked me from getting any and all work studys that would have contributed as work experience for my degree and it is really hard to find a part time job in it that is entry level. :'(

Conclusive Thoughts and last advice: It seems for the initial signing up it is alright but once you have done that there seems to be a lot of confusion because all of the groups that make up the bureaucracy do not have much concurrent data or are not in agreement with each other. And financial aid is a waist of time unless you and your family...

Update: I graduated from Ivy Tech in May 2021! Was able to get a job at Eskenazi Health after 1 month of graduating! Side note: I started college 2014 and quit. Went back in fall of 2016 started with my generals going part time and working. Started my core classes 2017. I was to graduate in 2020 but with a pandemic I graduated in 2021.

My tips for students- start looking for a job now, have your resume ready and ask for advice on how to make your resume look good. Ivy Tech offers help with resumes. Don't go crazy with colors or fonts (does not help you, tried that.) (Looking upTiktok videos for resume help is HELPFUL! How I learned what not to do) A good website to use is Resume.com to help build your resume! Internships will help you tremendously in human and social services fields! If you are looking into Human Services go for the Transfer program will help you so much to transfer to a 4 year. Its the TSAP program! Human Services students will take 2 internships 160 hours each class! It's alot and a big pain, but I learned so much from actually being in the community. Always ask questions if you do not understand, most of the time I emailed the professors If I was unsure or had to much anxiety to ask in class. If you are like me and have no desire to go back or go on to get a four year degree that is OKAY! Do what is best for YOU! Ivy Tech also has certifications! Look into those also! RENT YOUR BOOKS FROM AMAZON! You will save so much!!!

I have been going to this ivy tech for about a year now, and I would say it ranks right up with the Terre Haute campus. Nice and professional staff. Students here are nice to be around. For a community college it's just like a university. Actually afforadable compared to a university and I feel like professors take their time with students who don't understand something and that is...