A recent national report shows most adults without a college degree want one.

And there's good reason for that.

Our doing Lefler spoke to Kentucky's leading higher education official for this segment of education matters.

Gallup and Lumina.

As State of Higher Education survey shows, more than half of adults without a degree consider starting or going back to school.

That doesn't come as a surprise to those in higher education.

We are here in the narrative that higher education isn't important.

In higher education.

You don't need a credential or degree.

You know, our data show that you do 63% in the state of Kentucky.

You will need a higher ed credential, post-secondary credential, some sort in order to get a job by 2030, another 90% or so, we'll need one to get promoted.

So it matters.

And and the surveys show that people know that.

A report from the University of Kentucky found Kentucky's college graduates will earn twice as much as high school graduates over a lifetime, and public dollars spent on higher education translate to more money for local governments and businesses.

For these reasons, Kentucky officials have set a goal of getting 60% of Kentucky adults a degree by 2030, and that 60 over 30.

I'm proud to say we're at 56.2%, and the General Assembly has invested in us.

The governor sees the value of this.

So all the things that we do are connected to that, even in our policies and our processes, our performance funding model, all of those going to that direct correlation between the highly educated workforce and taking Kentucky to the next level.

Aaron Thompson wrote in Lexington's newspaper that federal cuts could derail that progress.

Congress is considering cutting the Gear Up program, which offers college and career resources in Kentucky's poorest schools.

We're seeing such a big return on investment once again for that money invested.

Gear up.

We've had gear up in Kentucky since 2000.

I've been involved in it since 2000, and the magnitude of the outcome is outcomes are just huge.

He's a real data.

Real people.

Right?

These are students that historically are first generation and never been to college.

We're preparing them for college.

And when they're getting in college, they're having success.

Data show that since 2011, students of the Gear Up program have had higher high school grades, A.C.T.

scores, and were more likely to go to college than their other low income Kentucky peers.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.

The Gallup Lumina report also asked adults why they stopped going to college.

The top reasons are mental health concerns and the cost of college.