HEALTHCARE

Schoellkopfs expand support for IU Columbus counseling center, funding internships and scholarships

Indiana University announced on 2026-10-12 that Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf are expanding support for the Tom & Barbara Schoellkopf Community Counseling Center at IU Columbus. The gift will fund an annual paid internship, enhance scholarships for counseling graduate students and sustain free or reduced‑cost services.

News BriefBy BusinessIndy News DeskCommentsPublished October 12, 2026 at 12:18 AM EDTLiving story · 2 sources

AI-generated illustration of the topic: Schoellkopfs expand support for IU Columbus counseling center, funding internships and scholarships — AI illustration · Not a photograph of the reported event.

Indiana University announced on 2026-10-12 that Tom and Barbara Schoellkopf are expanding support for the Tom & Barbara Schoellkopf Community Counseling Center at IU Columbus. The renewed support will fund an annual paid internship and strengthen scholarship opportunities for mental‑health counseling graduate students entering field experience (Indiana University news release).

The center, established in 2019, provides free and reduced‑cost counseling while giving graduate students supervised clinical experience. According to The Republic, since opening the center has hosted 1,452 therapy appointments serving 144 clients from IU Columbus, Ivy Tech, Purdue Polytechnic and surrounding communities; IU says 80 graduate students have received real‑time observation and feedback. The gift is part of IU’s Never Daunted campaign.

WHY IT MATTERS

This announcement matters to two groups in Central Indiana: residents seeking low‑cost mental‑health care and graduate students training to become licensed counselors. The Tom & Barbara Schoellkopf Community Counseling Center functions both as a community clinic that offers free and reduced‑cost therapy and as a supervised training site where graduate students practice skills under faculty oversight (Indiana University news release). Supervised clinical experience is a required step for counselors-in-training before they can sit for licensure.

Paid internships and scholarships lower financial barriers that can otherwise prevent trainees from taking field placements that require substantial time commitments. For example, a paid internship lets a graduate student accept a clinic placement without forgoing income, which can help programs recruit and retain trainees and steadily increase the local pipeline of qualified counselors. IU and The Republic report the Schoellkopfs’ gift will sustain those training and access functions.

Watch for campus updates and Never Daunted campaign releases for details the reports did not provide, such as the gift’s monetary size, the number of internship slots funded each year, and how residents can schedule services. Sources: The Republic — https://www.therepublic.com/2026/10/12/schoellkopfs-expand-support-for-iu-columbus-mental-health-counseling-program/; Indiana University news release — https://news.iu.edu/columbus/live/news/53706-tom-and-barbara-schoellkopf-continue-generous

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Linked source published October 12, 2026 at 12:09 AM EDT. A sourced news brief; no independent staff reporting is implied. Prepared with AI assistance from the linked research; material claims remain attributed in the article.

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