Ivy Tech Community College-Lafayette, which serves an eight-county area, began instruction in September of 1968 with a full-time faculty and staff of 11. Twenty-eight students were enrolled in two programs of study, Medical Laboratory Assistant and Operating Room Technician. In February 1969, along with these two initial health occupation programs, the Region assumed responsibility for the Practical Nursing Program which had been operated by the Lafayette School Corporation.

Initially planned as an institution without bricks and mortar, the College began instruction in the renovated former nurses’ residence hall of Lafayette’s Home Hospital. The College continued to rent and renovate vacant buildings to meet the demand for classroom and laboratory space until October 1979, when ground was broken for the Region’s new technical facility which would later house the technology programs.

Currently Ivy Tech-Lafayette annually enrolls more than 5,000 students in 27 degree or certificate programs of study. The full-time faculty and staff have grown to approximately 100.
In addition, the College employs many part-time faculty.

In 1999, the College received funding from the State Legislature to begin construction of an academic building on Creasy Lane next. to the Ross Administration Building and Technology Building. The construction is the first phase of an effort to consolidate the campus. Future phases include an addition to the Technology Building and renovation of the Ross Administration Building.