Branching out: entrepreneurial colleges blanket the state with locations.

UNLIKE TRADITIONAL college students enrolling immediately after high school, most adult learners are juggling a full-time job and family responsibilities, while taking a full load of classes to meet specific career objectives. Convenience, therefore, is a major factor in their selection of a university.

"We have really tried to market convenience," says James Barnes, president, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion. "That should not he associated with lack of rigor. The way we operate, you register one time and only one time. Every course you need to complete your program is offered in sequence. We can tell you precisely when you'll finish. We UPS your textbooks to you."

Indiana Wesleyan was one of the first institutions in the state to offer degree completion programs in the adult education market when it began in 1985, says Barnes. When he came on board two years later, it had 750 students enrolled in Marion and Indianapolis. Now, it has 8,400 students in adult programs, average age 38 to 40, and has expanded its major Indiana sites to include Columbus, Fort Wayne, Kokomo and Shelbyville, and out-of-state locations to Cincinnati, Cleveland and Louisville. The university also conducts courses at more than 90 locations that include work sites, and will present a program whenever 15 or more students pursue the same degree.

Institutions expand in Indiana. Just as Indiana Wesleyan has moved across state lines to reach new students, so have out-off-state universities gravitated to Indiana.

Originally established in Michigan as Grand Rapids Business College in 1866, Davenport University now has 27 locations serving 13,500 students in associate's to master's degree programs in business, health care and information technology In the mid-'80s, Davenport began offering courses in South Bend/Mishawaka and Merrillville, and now has satellite facilities in Hammond and Goshen, with a total 1,250 Indiana students. Enrollments are growing by 3 to 5 percent a year, says Al Wetherell, executive vice president for operations.

More than 96 percent of Davenport's students are working adults, with an average age of 31. But the university has turned its attention to high school grads in the last four years, with 500 enrolled system wide and 38 enrolled finis fall in South Bend and Merrillville. "We have an inverted curriculum," says "Wetherell. "We start with technology, health care or business courses early on. Traditional universities start off with general education for a year or two."

Illinois based DeVry University branched out into Indiana in 1997 with the opening of its Keller School of Management program in Merrillville. It offers MBAs as well as other master's programs in human-resources management and information-systems management to about 80 students. "We pioneered the accelerated master's degree program," says Pare Taylor, Merrillville center dean and regional manager. "Before we came to northwest Indiana, there really was no MBA program where a working adult could still work full-time and attend class full-time."

Last year, the Merrillville location began offering undergraduate DeVry University degrees in business and technology to about 125 students, teaching exclusively on weekends and evenings to accommodate working adults. Just this semester it began accepting students directly from high school. An additional DeVry location was added in Indianapolis this year.

One of the newest of the University of Phoenix's 150 locations is in Indianapolis, where bachelor's degrees in business and information technology are offered, as well as an MBA. Now Indiana students have access to in-classroom programs as well as its popular online offerings. More than 300 students have enrolled to attend evening or weekend classes, taking just one three-credit hour course at a time for five weeks. If a student has no other college background, it will take four years to complete a bachelor's degree, says Simon Lumley, Indianapolis campus director.

More schools, meanwhile, are heading online. Both Indiana Wesleyan and Davenport have new divisions that offer degrees exclusively online or a mix and match of classroom and online courses. Online degrees are becoming more accepted, says Indiana Wesleyan's Barnes. "Online you cannot be a passive learner. You have to respond to the questions. All of a sudden, you are a little more concerned about how you respond--your grammar, your syntax. Everyone in the class will be reading your response." As a result, he says, preliminary research shows students become better writers with online courses.

Focusing on careers. Indiana Institute of Technology, Fort Wayne, serves career-focused professionals, says new president Arthur Snyder, with all degrees leading to good, well-paying jobs. "You won't find a history degree at Indiana Tech; there are plenty of other schools for that." You will find lots of electrical-engineering, business and computer-science majors seeking undergraduate degrees, and about 400 students in MBA and master's of science in management programs.

About 2,700 adult students are enrolled at its Fort Wayne, South Bend, Elkhart, Indianapolis, Huntington and Warsaw locations, primarily taking night classes. An additional 650 full-time students attend at Indiana Tech's Fort Wayne campus, about half in residence.