Indiana Wesleyan University, with 30 other private colleges, will participate in a statewide visit week hosted by the Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) from July 23-27.
Although ICI campuses encourage and welcome visitors throughout the year, this concentrated week offers the opportunity to experience one or more campuses in a less formal way during the summer. It also allows students who may not have ever considered attending one of Indiana's independent, nonprofit colleges to begin to explore that option.
Daniel Solms, Indiana Wesleyan University's director of admissions, said that the university hosts 20 visit days and over 3500 visiting students each year, but the ICI week allows even more opportunities.
"The ICI week is a great opportunity for IWU to tell its story to students and for the collective groups of schools to demonstrate the great outcomes that exist at private colleges. For example, a student is almost twice as likely to graduate in four years from a private college (in Indiana) than they are from one of our publics. The specialized week also allows us to funnel summer visitors to a time when we can show them more life around campus," said Solms.
According to research conducted by Eduventures, 71 percent of high-school students identify the campus visit as the most trusted source of information about a college.
"We want every family to find out why earning a degree at an Indiana private, non-profit college is smart academically and smart financially," says Richard L. Ludwick, ICI president & CEO. "Unlike at other types of Indiana colleges and universities, the majority of our students graduate in four years rather than six --- or two-thirds the time it takes elsewhere."
Visitors between the ages of 16 and 20 touring one or more ICI campuses during Private College Week will have the chance to enter a drawing for an Apple iPad. Entry forms and rules will be available at each campus.
For a complete list of participating campuses, as well as their event schedules, go to www.indianacollegechoices.org or find them on Facebook by searching for Independent Colleges of Indiana. Advance registration is encouraged but not required, other than for those campuses offering individually-scheduled tours.
Independent Colleges of Indiana, Inc. (ICI) is a nonprofit association that represents the state's 31 private nonprofit colleges and universities. ICI member institutions enroll some 90,000 students (approximately 20 percent of all students statewide) and annually produce 35 percent of all bachelor's degrees in Indiana. For more information: www.icindiana.org.
Indiana Wesleyan University is an evangelical Christian comprehensive university of The Wesleyan Church, which has its world headquarters in Indianapolis. The University was founded in 1920, and is committed to liberal arts and professional education.
More than 3,200 students are enrolled in traditional programs on the University's main campus in Marion. Another 12,200 adult learners attend classes at education centers in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, and online.