For 10 years, College Cooperative Southeast (CCS) has served the people of Decatur County by providing access to a variety of course offerings close to home.

Throughout this time, fiscal agency for CCS was handled by Indiana State University. However, in the late fall of 2009, an examination of the cooperative’s services showed that 90 percent of students were taking Ivy Tech courses. As a result, CCS Regional Director Lisa Deck explained, the Commission of Higher Education and the State Budget Agency determined that Ivy Tech would be the more sensible choice for a fiscal agent.

This change, Deck noted, took place seamlessly for most of the CCS students. While administrative changes were made, the experience of those seeking services has not. She explained that while CCS is now an arm of Ivy Tech, it continues to market courses from a variety of institutions.

“Our job is to help them find what school will serve them the best. That is still what our role is as a college cooperative,” she said.

From Deck’s perspective, this change provides an opportunity for learning centers throughout the region to work even more closely with Ivy Tech in becoming the front door to education. With Indiana State University, it was a two-hour drive to meet face-to-face, she explained. With Ivy Tech much closer, the potential interactions could help to grow learning centers in Indiana, she noted.

“We are continuing to develop those partnerships with the four-year institutions through distance education and moving forward in being innovative and taking the cooperative to the next level,” she said. “We will continue to work toward making sure that in rural Indiana we are able to raise the level of education, and that is the whole reason we want to do it close to home.”

Deck explained that it is getting harder for families to send their children away to college. For some, it places a college education far out of reach. Through the connections created by CCS, students can stay at home for either part or all of their university experience - all close to home, she noted.

For more information about college classes in and around Greensburg, call Lisa Deck at 812-593-4288.