Total student enrollment at Kentucky’s private and state supported colleges and universities reached an all time high this fall, and the number one reason for the increase is unmistakable: The 16 community and technical colleges.
The numbers are another positive in a state that dramatically needs to increase the education level of its adult population in order to compete in the global economy of the 21st century. Not only does Kentucky rank near the bottom among the 50 states in the percentage of adults with college degrees, it also ranks near the top in the percentage of adults without high school degrees or the equivalent. Combined, those two figures are among the biggest obstacles to economic development in the state, and the numbers in both categories are worse in northeastern Kentucky than in the state as a whole.
But at least Kentucky is moving in the right direction when it comes to increasing the number of adults seeking to continue their education beyond high school. That’s important, because the high-tech jobs of today require more than just a high school degree.
According to a report released Monday from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, enrollment this fall at the community and technical colleges is more than 11 percent higher than it was in the fall of 2008 and now totals 100,000. That’s an impressive number when one considers the total enrollment at all private and public universities, colleges and community and technical colleges in Kentucky this fall is 254,560 students. That represents an increase of 5 percent over last fall. Despite continuing increases in tuition and other costs, more Kentuckians than ever are going to college.
“We’ve been seeing pretty consistent growth over the past several years,” Kentucky Education Cabinet Secretary Helen Mountjoy said. “There’s a growing realization that if you want to succeed in the 21st Century, you need some education and some training after you graduate from high school.”
Let us hope the trend continues.
While the sagging economy may be discouraging some Kentuckians from enrolling in a four-year university, it may actually be boosting enrollment at the community and technical colleges, Mountjoy said.
“As people are out of work, they tend to return to school or choose to continue their education so that they’re prepared when the new jobs present themselves,” Mountjoy said. People — particularly adults who have been out of school for awhile — see the community and technical college as an entry point to higher education, she said.
Mountjoy is right. The high percentage of older students at Ashland Community and Technical College is ample evidence that many are seeking the skills needed for a second career.
While Kentucky State University and Western Kentucky University had large percentage increases in enrollment among the four-year state universities, enrollment increases at Morehead State University, Murray State University, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville was less than 1 percent. Meanwhile, Eastern Kentucky University and Northern Kentucky University had only slightly higher percentage increases.
Nevertheless, in these tough economic times, even a slight increase in enrollment at the universities that award four-year degrees must be seen as a positive. The key now is for all universities and community and technical colleges to increase their graduation rates. Too many students who enroll in the state’s universities fail to earn a four-year degree and too many students in the community and technical colleges drop out without earning a two-year associate’s degree or a certificate in the program in which they are enrolled.
Getting more people to enroll in a university or community and technical college is just the first step toward improving the education level of our adult population. Having more students successfully complete their higher education is equally important.
The first step toward improving graduation rates begins before they ever enroll in college. Too many young people are graduating from high school poorly prepared for higher education. They must spend their college tuition taking non-credit courses that teach what they should have learned in high school. That needs to change if we are going to produce more college graduates in this state.
Editorials
The first step — 09/30/09
Community,technical colleges fuel record enrollment in state
- Editorials
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Charles Chattin
Before it merged with Ashland Community College to form Ashland Community and Technical College as a result of the 1997 Higher Education Reform Act, the Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School compiled an impressive record for teaching job skills to young adults and placing more than 85 percent in jobs for which they were trained.
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Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.
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'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.
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Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.
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Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.
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Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.
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Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.
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Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.
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Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.
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Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.
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Charles Chattin
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