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More than half of Kentuckians have a college degree or credential

College student walking to university campus education banner concept
Kentucky News Connection/HN Works - stock.adobe.com
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College student walking to university campus education banner concept

Kentucky is inching closer to its goal of having 60% of residents equipped with a college degree or credential by 2030.

The latest data from Lumina Foundation shows slightly more half of people living in the Commonwealth have attained some level of education after high school.

Part of the increase is driven by actions to keep tuition down, and offer financial literacy resources to shrink the amount of money students are borrowing - explained Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education President Aaron Thompson.

"Just five years ago, we were at 55% of all students going to college getting a student loan," said Thompson. "Now we're at 40%. But we also reduced the amount of loans by 34% for all Kentuckians."

According to the report, in 2023, 10% of Kentuckians held an associate degree, and 18% held a bachelor's degree.

Only one-in-four U.S. adults say it's extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paid job in today's economy - and 22% say college is worth it, even if they have to take out loans, according to a Pew survey released last year.

But Thompson said educational attainment is critical for jumpstarting career advancement or finding a higher-paying job - especially among Black, Hispanic, and Native students.

"Proud to say we just got recognized as having the best completion rate success - I mean, from where we were at in the country," said Thompson, "partially because we were bringing those that were at the lowest up."

Thompson added that campuses could do a better job of helping households who are eligible for federal money though the FAFSA program apply for it.

"We left about $58 million on the federal table last year from FAFSA when I was president of a campus one year," said Thompson, "as an example."

Nationwide, nearly 55% of people have a postsecondary degree or credential, and around 47% hold a bachelor's degree.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Lumina Foundation.

Nadia Ramlagan covers the Ohio Valley and Appalachian region for Public News Service (Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia). She previously worked for The Center for Emerging Media and The Marc Steiner Show, a daily public affairs public radio program in Baltimore, MD and reported for WUKY in Lexington, KY. She's produced long-form radio documentaries and is currently in the process of working on a film. Nadia studied at the University of Edinburgh, American University, and Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.