Let’s be honest. Most people who grow up in South Bend, Indiana dream of leaving the first chance they get. The summers are too hot and humid, the winters are too cold and snowy, and there's "nothing interesting to do" within a two hour drive from the city. (That last excuse is a lie, but that's not what this article is about.) Given the chance, a lot of people would leave here to go someplace "better."

This chance often comes for graduating high school seniors making the shift into college. Many students are ready to move away from home and into "college towns," where they can experience life on their own for the first time. But, South Bend is by no means a "non-college town." In fact, the city is best known throughout the country for housing the University of Notre Dame, a fine university indeed. The South Bend-Mishawaka metropolitan area is lucky enough to house five universities: The University of Notre Dame, St. Mary’s College, Holy Cross College, Bethel College and Indiana University South Bend (IUSB).

The South Bend campus of the Indiana University system is, of course, the only public university in North Central Indiana. For this reason, it draws many local Indiana residents, offering an IU education at an affordable price; but despite this, IUSB has gotten a bad rap. IUSB is the third largest IU campus after Bloomington and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) respectively. But, the latter universities are considered by many to be superior, which, in the grand scheme of things, is complete folly! IU South Bend is no more inferior to Bloomington or IUPUI than any other regional institution under a State university name.

To better illustrate this next point, imagine with me a scenario. A man has two boxes of Junior Mints. They are the same size, have the same number of pieces in them, and are both fresh from the factory. He gains the attention of a young man and his buddies hanging out on a park bench, casually taking draws on their cigarettes. He walks up, introduces himself, and asks if any of them like Junior Mints. Naturally they do because, come on, they’re Junior Mints. He shows them the first box, lets them examine it, then tells them that this particular box will cost them $5. The young men snort in derision and say that there’s no way in Hell that they’re paying that much for a box of Junior Mints. “Fair enough,” the man says, “let me get you another box.” He pulls out the second box, which remember, is identical to the first, and hands it to them. “This one,” he says, “this one will cost you 25 cents.” They pause, then look at each other confused. “Do one of you fellows have a quarter?” the man follows-up. One of the guys takes a coin from his pocket and places it in the palm of the man’s hand. “What are you getting at?” asks the boy sitting in the center of the bench. The man smiles, pulling out the first box again, he allows the young men to compare the two side-by-side. After thorough examination, which included opening the candies only to discover that they both contained the same number of pieces, the man asked them what was different between the two boxes. “Absolutely nothing” they said. Which is exactly the point. Both boxes were alike in every way, except that one was significantly more expensive than the other, even though there was no difference between the two.

This is the same situation with degrees from IU Bloomington and IUSB, or any IU school for that matter. At the end of their college experiences, both sets of students from both IU campuses receive degrees which bear the name of one of the best public universities in the country. Both sets of students received an Indiana University education, and both have degrees from the same institution. Yet, students from Bloomington, individually and as a whole, pay significantly more than students from IUSB.

So what gives?

Well, first off, Bloomington students have a lot more they have to pay for. Division I sports teams and a larger campus naturally lead to higher costs, and those are only two examples. The average in-state tuition rate for IU Bloomington is around $11,000 a semester (that’s not including room and board, or a meal plan, or textbooks, or other miscellaneous fees).

This last semester at IUSB, I only paid a little over $4000. Multiply that by two, and it’s around $8000 for tuition, books, and other fees for the whole year. I personally benefit from not living on campus, since my parents’ house is only three minutes from the university, and one minute from campus housing. Believe me, I was not about to fork over another $3000 a year to live one minute away from home, let alone with roommates. But even if I lived on campus, IUSB is only $11,000 a year at most, compared to Bloomington’s average of $21,000 a year for tuition alone (for in-state Indiana residents).

Because of the low cost of IUSB's tuition, I am able to double minor in Political Science and Spanish as well as major in English Secondary Education. When everything’s said and done, I’ll have an IU Degree with academic distinction, and be certified to teach half of the Indiana High School curriculum going into my first year of teaching. And, the best part is that I will do all of this debt free. I would not have been able to do that at Bloomington, it’s just too expensive.

And let’s briefly compare my qualifications from IUSB compared to Butler University in Indianapolis (which has the best education program in the state.) At Butler, I could earn a masterful Bachelor's Degree in Education to the tune of $51,000 a year. While at IUSB, I can get my degree plus two minors for around $8000 a year, allowing me to be certified to teach even more subjects than if I had gone to Butler for English alone. It also relieves me from the stress of paying back so much in student loans on a teacher's salary.

So, returning to the Junior Mints metaphor, I guess there actually are more pieces in my box. A lot more.

So if this is the case, then why is IUSB considered by many to be an “inferior school?” Besides the superiority complex from a few vocal individuals at the other state universities who think it's cool to be away from home for its own sake, IUSB doesn’t have a very good retention rate. The retention rate is the ability to keep students through the entirety of their college career. The problem here is simply that IUSB still does not have as many programs and majors compared to Bloomington’s campus. This is the case for a couple of reasons, the first being that IUSB has only begun to see significant growth within the past decade or so. But, now the school has over 100 degrees and programs, including some graduate degree programs, and is quickly on the rise. Another reason why IUSB has a low retention rate is because students use it as a springboard to get their required courses out of the way at a cheaper rate, especially if they're still unsure of what to major in. After doing this, they transfer to the school of their choice because IU credits are accepted nearly everywhere in the country, and most places worldwide. This can be contrasted with Bethel College, for example, whose credits rarely transfer to any other school besides the possible Christian affiliate. But, is a low retention rate an accurate determinant of IUSB's qualification as a good or bad school?

Overall, I believe the low retention rate actually speaks volumes to the credibility of the University. The fact that transfer credits are often accepted from IUSB shows that it is a respected member of the IU family.

IUSB has also had problems growing for many other reasons than not being able to hold onto students, the most significant being the campus’ geographic location.

IUSB is surrounded on all sides, by heavy neighborhoods, and John Adams High School, my alma mater. The University already annexed land to the West once before in order to build the new Education and Arts Building, and that was met with some opposition by nearby residents. The residents were compensated, and there hasn't been much complaint since. Given the city's record of working closely with the University to help further develop, I wouldn’t be surprised if IUSB eventually spreads into my neighborhood someday.

With the recent razing of the Greenlawn Building, IUSB needs to take a step forward and build a new facility to house more Majors. One of the main reasons many South Bend students go to another IU school is simply because IUSB does not have their desired major. Others leave because they unfortunately buy into this lie of IUSB being inferior to Bloomington or IUPUI. IUSB has been excelling on this path of growth, and its leaders have noticed the positive effects of their actions, so I am certain that their thought process is along the right lines.

Now comes the difficult part. IUSB also needs to add more beds- that is, they need to build more student housing. So far, IU South Bend has 400 beds. This only allows for five percent of the students to live on campus. 91 percent of students, myself included, commute to school every day, and the last four percent rent apartments or houses in the city.

IUSB's housing consists of apartment-style one bedroom, two bedroom and four bedroom living arrangements. Essentially, everyone has their own private bedroom, and usually share a bathroom. This is sort of a luxury way to go about it, but if IUSB ever hopes to attract students from Central and Southern Indiana, they will need a place for those students to sleep, and the 400 available beds already fill up quickly. This is why IUSB also needs to make use of the empty spaces at the River Crossing to build multi-story, traditional college dorms. (The developers could tour IUPUI's dorms and model them after that.) I would even advocate for annexing uninhabited, undesired properties along Lincolnway East, the road to the south of the University, to build these new dorms.

These improvements will serve as catalysts to make IUSB a more competitive school to get into, and will also force the city's hand in helping the University to expand.

IUSB is growing fast, and will continue to grow. And for the time being, it's important to remember that college is a delicate balance. There are times to be social and explore. But, at the end of the journey, what matters about college is not the parties, it’s not hooking up with as many people as you can, and it’s not the Freshman 15 you accidentally put on. What matters from college is that you graduate with your degree. As we’ve seen, not all degrees are equal. Some people end up paying more for the same degree they could have gotten back home, and often times the degree back home can get you so much more than one from out of town. College is outrageously expensive these days. A change I hope to see and bring about in my lifetime is a significant drop in college tuition, but until then, no university in the state of Indiana has anything on IUSB in terms of a reputable name, at a valued price.