With an increasing crush of students at Ivy Tech Community College across the state, school officials are saying they may have to limit enrollment.

"It's wonderful that we're growing but the resources have to keep pace with the growth. If they don't, we can easily run into a problem," said Lupe Valtierra, chancellor of Ivy Tech College Northwest.

For the past five years, Ivy Tech has grown at a phenomenal rate and this summer is no exception. The college overall boasts an upshot of 33 percent while the four campuses in Northwest Indiana estimate a 50 percent increase in enrollment. More than 120,000 students take classes at Ivy Tech's 23 campuses across the state each year.

In addition, Gov. Mitch Daniels is pushing for a 4 percent cut in higher education, leaving state legislators to decide as part of a special session June 11 .

A 4 percent cut will have an impact on the college's ability to hire additional staff to meet the needs of the growing student body, according to Valtierra.

"We need to sit back as a regional and statewide system and determine what happens if we don't have enough faculty to teach our students or if we don't have the space for students," he said. "We're not saying we won't accept students yet but we are saying it's something we're going to have to look at."

Last month, Ivy Tech put together a college-wide committee to develop a coordinated statewide contingency plan to limit enrollment if necessary.

In a May 7 memo to chancellors, Ivy Tech Provost Don Doucette said "with the state having limited resources and the uncertainty of additional state funding, we must plan to focus college resources on maintaining and ensuring the high quality of our programs and services, at the expense of further growth."

He went on to say "the shortfall in the number of student support staff and the inability to expand our physical capacity to serve students has added to the severity of the situation."

The committee's recommendations are expected to be reviewed by the State Board of Trustees at its meeting in Richmond June 10 and 11.

Valtierra said it's scary to think a community college would have to say "no more people" and it's contrary to its mission of open access.

So the college is looking at a variety of ways to meet the needs including distance learning and increasing the class size, he said.

"Instead of 15 students in a class, it may be 20 or 25," Valtierra said.

Carmen Shelby, 46, of Gary who graduated from Ivy Tech in 2007 with an associate degree in business administration, said if Ivy Tech had to turn students away it would be a blow to the community.

"There are no other colleges or universities around who are willing to take students and work with them to bring up their GPA," she said. "With the economy being what it is, it would really hurt those people who are trying to better themselves. If they can't get into Ivy Tech and take those core classes and get their grades up, where else can they go."