Report: Kentucky On Track to Meet Higher Education Degree Goal - WKU Public Radio

A new report shows Kentucky is on pace to meet a goal of having at least 60% percent of the state’s working age population with a postsecondary degree by 2030.

Figures released this week by the Council on Postsecondary Education show nearly 47% of Kentucky adults have a credential from a college or university. That's a 4.5% increase since 2014.

Virtually all of that growth came from short-term certificates awarded by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. The number of degrees awarded by the state’s four-year schools was essentially flat.

CPE President Aaron Thompson says the state needs to get more KCTCS graduates to continue their education.

Hear the audio version of Kevin's story.

“We have to get more of those students to transfer to a four-year institution. That was down, and that’s not good,” he said.

Another piece of positive news cited by Thompson is that bachelor’s degrees earned by minority students at public and private institutions in the state increased by more than 5% in 2018-19, over the previous academic year. 

Once again, the state’s community and technical colleges outperformed the progress at four-year institutions.

“If you look at our Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges, they increased their percentage points of minority students receiving degrees by 7.4%,” Thompson said.

Four-year schools saw an increase of 5.3% in that area.