Leaders from Kentucky's colleges and universities met in Owensboro this week to discuss the future of higher education in a constantly changing world.

It was an opportunity to celebrate progress, particularly the increase in college graduation rates.

But there are more conversations to have and more problems to solve.

Here's more from Kentucky editions Clayton Dalton.

Kentucky's Council on Post-secondary education, or CPE, has an ambitious goal for the state that 60% of the population will have a meaningful college degree by the year 2030.

CPE President Aaron Thompson said Kentucky's gains over the past five years have been remarkable.

Kentucky has been number one or number two in the nation on enrollment gains, persistence gains, retention gains, graduation graduation rate gains, completion gains.

I'll get the word out sooner or later.

And we're proud of that, right?

We're now above national average on all of those markers.

Over the past decade, the number of Kentucky adults with a college credential has jumped by over 10%.

And Thompson said affordability is a central focus.

So now 61% of all of our students graduating from our public institutions are graduating with no debt.

Of those that had that, we reduced debt by 34%.

But not everyone is convinced that college is a worthwhile investment.

A recent Gallup poll shows that only 38% of Americans have a great deal of confidence in colleges and universities.

Casey President Ryan calls said he believes community colleges are uniquely positioned to boost public confidence.

A lot of people are questioning the role of higher education, especially the costs.

Right now, we are affordable.

We are the lowest price point in Kentucky and we're also open access.

Meaning if you apply, you get in with us.

And so we take that role very seriously, especially as people somewhat criticize higher education right now.

And so for us we are really focused on workforce outcomes.

And if you want to gain trust in the public, it's about telling the positive story we have, highlighting the student success we have, and also reminding the taxpayers that their investment with us leads towards job creation.

In light of the progress Kentucky has made to increase the number of college graduates, accessibility and messaging to low income students is still an area of concern.

Although we've done great with affordability outcomes, we have much farther away to travel and letting people know that that's the case.

There truly are people that can't afford to go to college.

And we need to be focused on that.

But we also have a significant amount of our population, especially our low income population, that believe that they can't afford to go to college.

So we have to combat that.

The data is clear that people with a college credential make more money over their lifetime, and are less likely to go to prison or need welfare assistance.

Things that point to a good life.

But Thompson said personal success stories are what really move people.

People need to feel it emotionally.

I'm a first generation high school student.

Father was a literate mother.

Eighth grade education.

We were sharecroppers.

We had no money.

The house we stayed on sharecroppers farm had a dirt floor.

But higher education has changed my world and all my kids world.

You know, you can go from that place of poverty with not a lot of educational background in your family to leading higher education for a state.

So it's combating that idea that isn't important because we can tell you how it is important.

Experts agree there's no one size fits all solution to make more Kentuckian see college as a positive investment and one that's affordable and feels accessible.

But Thompson said it looks like changing our mindset from students being college ready to colleges being student ready for Kentucky edition.

I'm Clayton Dalton.

Now, according to the Council on Post-secondary education, every tax dollar invested in higher education returns four and a half dollars to the state and $17 to local communities.