Enrollment continues to increase at Ivy Tech Community College, reaching a spring-semester record, college officials said.

About 3,338 students were enrolled on official "count day" 10 days after the start of the semester, the college announced Thursday.

That's an increase of 14.2 percent from the spring semester of 2004. Full-time equivalent enrollment also by 12.1 percent, a sign that Ivy Tech students are taking more courses.

Diana Jacobs, Ivy Tech's dean of students, said the official figures understate the college's enrollment, because they include only students who have paid full tuition. Counting students on deferred tuition plans, she said, the campus has 3,527 students.

"That is the highest for any spring term in the history of the campus," she said in a news release. "It is also significant in that it exceeds our record 2004 fall enrollment figures, and spring enrollment is traditionally less than fall."

The campus had 3,468 students last fall.

Ivy Tech Bloomington was one of five of the 23 Ivy Tech campuses to experience double-digit growth this spring.

Chancellor John Whikehart attributed the growth to an increase in students starting Ivy Tech programs in the spring.

He said the campus has stepped up recruiting, and it's adding new degree programs, including two-year programs in general studies, biotechnology, respiratory care, paralegal studies, radiation therapy and kinesiology.

Whikehart said then-Gov. Joe Kernan's announcement in October that Ivy Tech would be Indiana's community college may also have spurred enrollment. And cost is a factor, he said — Ivy Tech tuition is about half that of four-year state universities.

Ivy Tech is an open-enrollment college offering two-year degree programs, technical certificates and customized work force training. Its Bloomington campus is at 200 Daniels Way off West Ind. 48.

Reporter Steve Hinnefeld can be reached at 331-4374 or by e-mail at shinnefeld@heraldt.com