state's community and technical colleges by 8.4% and a continuation of my conversation with Kctcs President Ryan corals from last week.

He explained that increase and how he's getting the 16 college system's house in order after some recent critical audits.

So let's talk about this enrollment growth because it is something to brag about an 8.4% increase over last year to what do you a credit that?

Well, we have programs that are relevant to employers and we have programs that.

>> That will get Kentuckians in and out of higher education in 2 years or less with a fantastic job offers.

Well, and so I think that the enrollment growth, which, by the way, is a 10 year high, we're welcoming 85,000 students into our classrooms this fall.

And when you add in our dual credit were well over 100,000 students.

44% of all undergraduates in the state of Kentucky.

All right.

Our community and technical colleges.

And so we are a big provider.

And yes, and the Roman is up because number one, I think that our programs are relevant.

A lot of young Kentuckians are are saying I want to become of that whole line worker that sets helping fix utility lines that's making $70,000 a year that they want to become that teacher.

They want to start that that four-year degree at a community college because not only are we affordable, we're also says the Bulls as well as 70 campus locations.

And look, there's a big narrative in higher education right now.

We're sadly a lot of door openly questioning the value of higher education and the student loan debt conversation is real, but our community and technical colleges dead.

A lot of our students graduate debt free, only one in 10 or so actually take out a loan and then we have lots of funding as well as whether the state grants are Pell Grant as well.

And so we want to make sure that we were my Kentucky ends that a college experiences in your own backyard that we service.

All Kentuckians are open admissions and that our programs are relevant.

Well, so being in everyone's backyard has been some of the conversation right in the last couple of years.

>> Conversation about whether or not talking about academic and administrative bloat.

That was one thing concerned about the two-year campuses having duplicative services, maybe the transfer pathways want really with these and the short term certificates were a quote of questionable value.

That's what was said.

And so there are some focus right on what Kctcs should be focusing on.

Is it too big?

16 colleges have many campuses.

77 us.

Is that too much for the state of Kentucky.

So one interesting things that I was challenged to do when I was hired is >> to look at the next 25 years of Kctcs know to celebrate it a quarter century when our technical colleges in our community colleges for merged together from House Bill won in 1997.

And so it's time for an appropriate review of our system, which I welcome.

And so there's a thing called Senate Joint Resolution.

One 79 were the General Assembly while working in my office as well, created an opportunity for us to self reflect and come back with an action plan.

And one of the things that we want to address is duplicative services typically 2 degrees and certificates.

The value of the programs that we offer.

But also the space utilization, which is a fancy way of saying how many buildings we have a right and were actually selling off some property right now.

And but we want to make sure we focus on 3 things.

Number one is that we should never waver on access to every day.

Kentuckians a lot of Kentuckians are not able to afford to move to say it like some tender Richmond.

They're able to afford that glamour.

And I don't want to take the time to be on the road to get an hour to attend college either.

They were a rule states of and that's my backgrounds.

Will even in our urban areas as well.

Transportation to be a barrier.

>> The starting a college degree.

And so we will make sure that we do not compromise on access.

So we do need a big footprint.

But with the rise of online education, perhaps we don't need as many as much infrastructures.

And he's one of the optimized that right now there's no formal process.

We are implementing and creating a policy to formal interview our space as well.

We also need to make sure that in the modern education environment, they were able to invest in the latest and greatest technology.

Well, the same time shutting off assets that may not be as productive as they used to be in the best way.

We can do that is to review our programs and some programs.

I had their time in the sun but may need to be taught out.

We're eliminating overtime because of lack of enrollment are declining enrollment.

And we know that no more know Henry.

So there are times in which no students are enrolled.

There are a handful that we are now.

>> Having a formal process through academic optimization tour.

We sunset programs are not as relevant that way.

We can be a little more elastic and have some flexibility and boost programs such as our health care programs, which we know there's strong demand for right now as well.

And so we're happy to take on this challenge.

You mentioned about you inherited a 25 year old system and that we've read and we've talked about some of the problems at a state audit found.

So tell us where that stands.

And on the correct the course correction that you're doing at this point.

>> Will there certainly some issues and one thing that I was hired to do was fix Kctcs.

And that's exactly what I'm doing.

We have 3 audits going on right now.

One was a state audit conducted last year by the say auditor and 2023.

And we're proud that we're almost done curing all the audit.

Finding some bodies were financial nature, including sums of money that are at the system office and making sure that that we know where they came from and how we for legally there was money that need to be returned to the 16 colleges, which I did my second week in office, there are some additional components that but the good news is I'm committed to transparency and fixing kctcs.

And so that audit we're almost done curing that.

The second OT is what's called a forensic audit, which was recommended and funded by the General Assembly.

That's going to help us legally determine how we can move for with the funds that we have for our system, which is a good thing.

And they're also going to pick up on some areas that need to be addressed.

We know that perhaps or some improvements that can be made with our foundations as well.

And so we welcome the auditors advice because they're our friends and they're going to help us set us on a course correction.

And then we also have the Kentucky Fire Commission, which is attached to us.

And so we're the major provider for firefighters across our state for continuing education.

And so we have an audit going on there as well.

Again, welcomed.

And so I feel like I'm juggling a lot of different balls right now, but we are focused on compliance and fixing.

And I think that's one reason why I was selected was help guide and shepherd us through this process.

Well, the same time reporting back to the General Assembly with a reset plan, which we will submit in December this year.