Indianapolis is home to 40 institutions of higher learning, and 31.1 percent of the city’s residents hold a bachelor’s degree — above the U.S. average — while 10.5 percent have a graduate degree. Education is an important focus among Indiana lawmakers, who are working to establish clear, efficient pathways for on-time college completion in order to raise these percentages even higher.

Ivy Tech Community College ranks as the state’s largest public postsecondary institution. Ivy Tech Community College-Central Indiana, with its main campus located in Indianapolis, serves the largest region in the Ivy Tech system. Students work toward college credits, technical certificates and associate degrees at the school’s five campuses and 11 community locations. The Center for Global Education at Ivy Tech facilitates off-campus study, international student and faculty exchange and international events.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is a comprehensive university with an annual budget of over $1.3 billion. The school serves more than 30,000 students from every state and 142 countries. IUPUI enrolls more than 250 degree programs in 19 schools. IUPUI notes that it ranks nationally for many programs, including nursing, public affairs, environmental affairs, law and health.

Marian University is another Indianapolis institution of higher learning, although it only serves 2,700 full-time and part-time students. Students can choose from more than 36 majors and 37 minors while pursuing associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The student-faculty ratio is 15:1.

Find a program that meets your affordability, flexibility, and education needs through an accredited, online school.

Ivy Tech Community College-Central Indiana serves Indianapolis students both on-campus and online. As the school’s name suggests, technical training and high-tech dominate the list of online programs, although e-learning options also address general education transfer requirements and general studies. Distance learning at Ivy Tech encompasses fully online degree programs, technical certificates and short-term certificates as well as programs combining in-person and online instruction. Hybrid degree and certificate programs blend online and video courses with on-campus classes and off-site internships, in subject areas such as computer science, early childhood education, human services and paralegal studies.

Indianapolis natives have access to Ivy Tech Community College’s wide-ranging online associate degrees and certificate programs. Most online certificates and Associate of Applied Science degree programs target career goals, for example, cyber-technology, database development and administration, network security, manufacturing production and operations, and supply chain management and logistics. Students can choose from programs with different timeframes to match their needs and schedules — a short-term certificate could take half as long to complete as an associate degree program. Even those enrolled in on-campus programs may take advantage of approximately 350 individual classes offered through Ivy Tech Online.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has a number of courses in its distance education program for students with busy schedules who prefer to work at their own pace off-campus. Students take classes via cable television, DVD or online through the Indiana Multimedia Distribution System. IUPUI also offers online courses and certificates through its Continuing Education program. At the University of Indianapolis, the School for Adult Learning offers online general education courses for students in specific nursing programs.

Butler University and Marian University also have many options for online learning. Butler features online/hybrid learning courses in many areas of study as well as five business certificate programs through the Corporate and Executive Education program. Marian University has an online accelerated nursing degree program.

Indianapolis has worked on revitalization for much of the past two decades, and has become a major financial, commercial and industrial center. Forbes named it as one of the best downtowns in the U.S. The city has a diverse economy, and according to the Indy Partnership, key industries in Indianapolis are:

According to the Indiana Business Review, occupations with the most growth from 2008 to 2013 are in the following sectors:

The 2012 Top Workplaces employee survey, conducted by WorkplaceDynamic, lists the five largest companies in Indiana as follows:

The top employers listed above include one in health care, which is the industry expected to have the most growth over the next decade. Health care is also the industry in the Indiana economy that has shown the most growth over the past five years.

Find a program that meets your affordability, flexibility, and education needs through an accredited, online school.