Bottom line summary. Visiting CIP helped on two fronts: 1) our son is more confident in thinking about college because programs like CIP are there if he ultimately concludes that he is not ready for college; and 2) it helped me re-frame my thinking. For now, at least, I don’t consider CIP Bloomington a “transition” program to help our son become successful in the Bloomington college community (i.e. Indiana University). I, instead, consider it to be a program that might serve as a stepping stone towards a smaller 4 year college -- likely located closer to our California home. Towards that end, we will continue to look at colleges, and now have the option of doing so knowing that CIP might be one of several resources that our son could use along the way towards achieving that goal.
At a high level, my impressions were:
- Cold. It was really cold in April -- snow flurries (but Easter weekend set record low temperatures in much of the U.S.). The cold made an impression on our son, who has always lived in California.
- Lovely staff. The CIP staff we met were lovely. We were amazed by how many different people work in a program that has just 11 students. This is the start up year and they are aiming to double in size for 2007-2008. I would keep a close eye on turn-over after year 1, since that could say a lot about whether the staff believe the program is fulfilling its mission.
- Isolated from IU. The CIP offices and apartments are close to the local community college. They are a bus ride or long walk away from the Indiana University Campus. 3 of the 11 students this year are taking classes at Indiana -- anywhere from 1 to 3 classes -- and all are doing so as continuing education students. Because the program is in its first year, there is no evidence, yet, of the CIP Bloomington students morphing their CIP experience into a 4 year college experience. This year the CIP students, therefore, seem to be somewhat isolated from college life, but there are social connections among the CIP students -- they interact as a group in daily CIP classes as well as weekly potluck dinners.
- Apartments. The apartment building is big. From what we could tell, all the residents are college students. The interior halls have the look of a dorm. We visited one apartment. It was quite nice. Each student has his own bedroom and they share a kitchen and living area. CIP provides the furniture. Both the CIP residential advisor and a CIP student we met commented that the party scene in the apartment building can get loud and rowdy on weekend nights.
- Pluses. Our son commented that visiting CIP relieved some of the anxiety he has experienced in thinking ahead to college, because it let him know that there would be people available to help -- with life skills, prescriptions, room mate issues, job searches, college enrollment and course work. It seems to have provided a "safety net" for his further exploration of college options. He knows that a program like CIP is there, but he also wants to continue to explore other options, such as small liberal arts colleges. If we think of Bloomington as and intermediate step to prepare our son to attend a small 4 year college -- a chance to take some community college classes and make some progress on independent living, then this may be a good choice.
- Minuses. Because the program is so new, if was hard to determine whether the CIP students will integrate into the Bloomington college community, or whether this program is best viewed as a stand-alone 1 to 2 year program. I can't really see our son succeeding at IU, and I wonder whether he would transfer the living skills gained in Bloomington to a whole new community when he is ready to begin a 4 year program.
