Designing Students Are College’s Goal
By Bruce C. Smith, The Indianapolis Star
Oct. 3–The Art Institute of Indianapolis, the newest career-training college to open here, is cleared to begin today — hiring faculty and signing up students for classes and four-year college degrees.
Classes will start Jan. 9, and institute officials eventually plan to attract up to 2,000 students and 200 faculty members.
“Word has been spreading a little, and we’ve already received a couple hundred messages and inquiries” from potential students even before advertising begins, said Tony F. Mediate, the school’s recently appointed president.
The institute will start by offering four-year bachelor of science degrees in graphic design, interactive media design and interior design and a two-year associate’s degree in graphic design.
But the course offerings will grow.
The Indianapolis school is the newest of 31 career college sites operated by Education Management Corp., a publicly traded company based in Pittsburgh.
The company says it has 150,000 graduates and a placement rate after graduation of nearly 90 percent in students’ fields of study.
Many of its older, established sites have a dozen or more degree programs, including culinary arts, photography and fashion.
State officials said there is plenty of room for new educational opportunities, even though there are many public and private institutions in Central Indiana, where the Art Institute expects to draw students.
AI will be headquartered in the Pyramids complex on the southeast side of I-465 and Michigan Road on the Northwestside. A temporary office is on the fourth floor of the center tower during construction of permanent offices and classrooms on the first two floors of Building One.
Eventually, AI will occupy at least three floors totaling nearly 50,000 square feet and become the largest tenant at the complex.
State regulators approved the new school early this summer. On Sept. 23, it picked up approval from the national Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, based in Virginia.
Students in the four-year degree program must take English, math and the core subjects required at other four-year schools, officials said.
However, AI students will get a heavy emphasis on career training, learning the specific skills and working on the equipment that will be required for jobs.
Companies will get the graduates they want to fit the jobs, Mediate said.
Starting pay for new graduates averages more than $28,000 a year at AI sites across the country.
Full- and part-time faculty to be hired will be required to have academic credentials to satisfy state and industry requirements, plus practical experience working in their fields, he said.
Typical students probably will be much like those at other colleges but the private school will have some flexibility in its schedule so that some classes are in the evenings and Saturdays for part-time or working students.
Matt Dearsman, director of admissions, said full-time students could complete the associate’s degree in 21 months.
Students are not required to pass the SAT or other standardized college entry exams to be considered by AI. But they must have graduated from high school or have an equivalent diploma and provide a copy of a high school transcript. They must be at least 18, write an essay and pass a personal interview.
Besides class work, students will get practical experience in their fields with internships and contests involving students from other AI schools and by performing free work for Indianapolis nonprofit groups, Mediate said.
The cost of an education at AI is $353 per credit hour, similar to other area career programs. A four-year degree requires 191 hours, and a two-year degree is 112 hours.
Dearsman and Mediate said that since AI programs are fully accredited, students are eligible for scholarships, loans, federal education programs and military veterans benefits and other funding to help with costs.
THE ART INSTITUTE OF INDIANAPOLIS
–What: Newest of 31 career college sites operated by Education Management Corp. It offers two- and four-year degrees in graphic design and other arts.
–When: Enrollment is under way for classes beginning Jan. 9.
–Where: 3500 DePauw Blvd., temporarily on the fourth floor of Building Two of the Pyramids office building; later moving to Building One.
–Contact: (317) 613-4800 or toll-free at (866) 441-9031
–Internet: www.aii.edu/indianapolis
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