College and training info for Indiana

Have you planned to prepare for a future career? Do you want to be a teacher? An accountant? Maybe a plumber, a forester, a mechanic, or a computer technician? These dreams require education and training after high school. Students with an interest, desire, and ability are encouraged to continue their education and training after high school. There are, however, many misconceptions about requirements for enrolling in college, vocational and technical programs.

What are the requirements for college enrollment? Indiana’s CORE 40 high school graduation requirements are designed to provide the academic rigor to prepare graduates for college. Students planning to attend college are expected to pursue the CORE 40 instructional requirements.

Some students did not plan ahead, did not have confidence in themselves, decided to drop-out of high school, or otherwise failed to properly prepare for college or post-secondary training in the traditional ways. There is a common misconception that it is impossible for these former students to enroll in college, vocational school, or other post-school training. This is not true! Most colleges and post-secondary training programs offer some type of probationary enrollment for non-traditional students and for those with ability who, for whatever reason, did not complete the traditional college preparatory courses in high school or who dropped-out and did not earn their diploma. These probationary enrollments allow the college or training institution to assess the potential of the student and allow the student to “show their stuff” in a real-life academic, technical or vocational program. After successfully completing the probationary period, these students are allowed to enroll in standard programs. How do you know if you qualify for probationary enrollment? Each college, vocational, and technical school has an admissions office that can describe the enrollment options offered. First decide which institutions offer the training opportunities of interest to you and then contact the admissions offices to learn more about their admission requirements.

Indiana has a state Student Assistance Commission that provides useful service and information assistance. There is also a Special Programs Division within the Student Assistance Commission. The Student Assistance Commission may be contacted at 317-232-2350 or 317-233-1178.           

You can find a list of post secondary services for students in Indiana here.