IU, Purdue to automatically enroll students who meet new high school diploma rule

Indiana’s state college and university systems have agreed to automatically admit high school students who complete one of the state’s new diploma paths. 

A 2023 law tasked the State Board of Education with adopting new diploma requirements. They approved three diploma options in December focused on going to college, joining the workforce or enlisting in the armed forces.

The state’s final plan includes the honors and honors-plus designations for students on each of those tracks.

Students who aim to go to college would complete enrollment honors plus diplomas, which require a little more work inside and outside the classroom through work-based learning or another credential. 

Gov. Mike Braun on Wednesday praised the new diploma plan, saying it supports each of the three diploma tracks.

Braun said the Department of Education moved “at the speed of light” to finalize the new diplomas.

“We don't need a lot of the degrees that we guide into,” Braun said. “You know what happens if you're misguided into a degree and you make it to the finish line, you gotta leave the state to find a job. You gotta come back into the basement or back home if you don't want to leave the state. Both bad outcomes.”

Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said the plan was a long time coming and the department will continue to improve it.

“Our students are graduating high school with big dreams and aspirations,” Jenner said. “We're seeing many who never make it to higher ed, even though that was their plan, or, you know, can't find the job that gives them the wage needed to live a great life. So those are the kinds of seamless pathways that we have to continue focusing on in Indiana.”

Once a student graduates with the readiness seal, they can be automatically enrolled at a state university – like Purdue University and its multiple campuses.

Universities respond

Purdue President Mung Chiang – who once called out initial diploma requirements as not meeting the Big Ten school’s admission standards – fully endorsed the revised plan Wednesday. 

“We look forward to this new arrangement, and we understand that they will indeed have choices of all the campuses, including our two regional and the main campus,” Chiang said.

Purdue’s Provost Patrick Wolfe said it’s a mischaracterization to say the university “criticized” the early diploma drafts rather they provided feedback.

“The thing that we all care about the most is readiness, like readiness for college and readiness for college success,” Wolfe said. 

But students can’t get “senioritis” or slack off if they want to pre-admit to Purdue. 

“If you stay on track through the rest of your senior year, then you'll get admission to, not only Purdue and IU, but the entirety of the state educational institutions,” Wolfe said. “Students will have their choice of where they want to go.”

In a news release Wednesday, Indiana University’s spokesman Mark Bode wrote that pre-admission “does not guarantee admission to a specific academic major or the academic major of a student’s choice”.

“Admission is also not guaranteed if a student’s academic performance falls below an acceptable threshold during the student’s senior year of high school, or if they fail to complete all the steps required during the admissions process,” IU wrote. 

Some state universities, like Ball State and Indiana State, already participate in a pre-admission initiative, where students are offered a number of schools willing to pre-admit them based on test scores and applications. 

But IU-Bloomington and Purdue’s main campus in West Lafayette were were not previously included.

“This was not done in isolation,” IU President Pamela Whitten said. “There was planning and pragmatism to bring this to the finish line. And in the end, this is a unique continuum of serving students from when they enter high school and they figure out what they want to do with their parents, all the way until they actually attend university.”

Business to back students seeking employment

A little more than half of the state’s students are pursuing two-or four-year degrees when they leave high school, according to state data. 

The diploma redesign came as fewer high school graduates chose to attend college. Jenner said Wednesday that she believes the state’s initiative “absolutely could” improve the state’s college-going rate.

Braun and other top Republicans have said Indiana is on the right with the new diplomas but emphasized that businesses need to play a greater role.

“Businesses for far too long wanted to be detached from the process,” Braun said. “They need to get with it, like many of our companies have, with apprenticeships, with summer jobs, after school jobs. Get to know your own local school districts.”

In December, House Speaker Todd Huston called out businesses and said the greatest challenge lies with students understanding their job options. 

“Frankly, we need more businesses to step up, more businesses to provide opportunities to kids, internships, apprenticeships, those types of things,” Huston said at the Indiana Chamber Legislative Preview event. “We can't rely on the workforce to show up at our door. We have to go get our workforce.”

Some businesses have already committed to supporting the new diploma plan.. Ascend Indiana, which helps Hoosiers and employers connect, has agreed to provide career support.

Students who complete an employment honor plus diploma, will receive help connecting with major Indiana employers, like Eli Lilly and Company and Cummins, according to the education department. 

Jenner said that comes with an “automatic interview” and a chance to be considered by some of the largest employers in the state. 

“Those are the types of opportunities that will only continue to grow,” Jenner said. Jenner anticipates that the list of businesses will keep growing, she said.

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce is also promoting work-based learning opportunities and encouraging businesses to join the effort,” said Vanessa Green Sinders, the chamber’s president and CEO. 

“We applaud Governor Braun and Secretary Jenner for implementing this program and see the potential for it to be a real difference-maker,” Green Sinders said in a statement. 

What happens next

All high schools must implement the new graduation rules for the class of 2029, students who will be freshman next school year. But high schools can phase in the new requirements starting next school year for other grade levels. 

Purdue and other state university officials said they will be ready for students as soon as their schools start awarding the new diplomas, beginning with the class of 2026.

Contact WFYI Statehouse education reporter Rachel Fradette at rfradette@wfyi.org.