Braun touts Indiana as national leader in higher education reform, school choice 

Indiana is emerging as a national leader in education reform, Gov. Mike Braun says, pointing to changes in higher education and the expansion of school choice. 

Since taking office in January, Braun has applied his private-sector experience to both K-12 and postsecondary education. One of his first actions was signing a law requiring the state’s public universities to eliminate 400 academic programs with low enrollment or degrees tied to low-paying or low-demand fields. 

The changes took effect this fall at public universities across the state, including Purdue University and Indiana University. Funding associated with the eliminated programs was redirected to trade schools and technical education as part of an effort to steer students toward higher-paying careers. 

“Colleges are going to have to find out how they give us better value on degrees that have good markets,” Braun told WDRB-TV last month. “A lot of kids are looking at how they scale up in high school and maybe go to (a tech school) for a certificate – because a lot of that pays more than 80% of your college degrees.” 

Braun, a former U.S. senator with an MBA from Harvard University who successfully expanded his family business, Meyer Distributing, said workforce training at the high school level “could dump $2-3 billion worth of income into the economy.” 

He has also pushed back on rising college costs, successfully urging the state’s 15 public colleges and universities to freeze tuition this year. 

Braun said he was encouraged by Purdue University, a top-20 public university nationally, which has held tuition flat since 2012. 

“You had to be a little entrepreneurial, and you had to just push the envelope,” Braun said. “When you have governors and state governments that just abided and act like there’s nothing you can do, that’s going to give the latitude for schools to think that there’s a never-ending spigot, which is finally starting to tap itself out.” 

Indiana’s school choice program has also expanded, with Braun and the Legislature removing the remaining income limits to make the program universally available beginning in the 2026-27 school year. 

In addition, Braun has banned taxpayer funding of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state agencies. And the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, which Braun reorganized, recently announced public colleges and universities must show that new degree programs demonstrate a commitment to “upholding American values,” the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. 

“We are now cited as the state that all the other 49 are looking at,” Braun told WDRB. “We’re further down the trail when it comes to parental choice and directing kids to degrees that make sense – not just blindly saying, ‘Do this.’”