What's working and what isn't at Kentucky's colleges and universities.

Well, we talked about the state of higher education last night on Kentucky tonight.

Our panel included some of the state's leaders in education, including two university presidents and two members of the Kentucky General Assembly.

They talked about enrollment, the cost of college education and federal help that isn't always being used.

You know, there's too many students not going to a college or university in Kentucky.

It's about 50%.

Dr. Thompson can correct me on anything I say this evening, but it's about 50% and it's declined for the last few years.

So this enrollment challenge is very difficult for all of us.

Nationally, there's about 1.3 1.4 million less college going students than in 2020 today versus 2020.

So that challenge, whether you're an independent, private institution or a public institution, a large flagship institution, we're all facing this challenge.

The point being is that we're focused on what's good for this economy.

We have a goal of 60 by 30 and 60% of all of our citizens in Kentucky needs to have a post-secondary credential that matters in order to build the workforce and continuing to build the economy.

Proud to say we're at 55%.

And that's by the year 2030.

60%.

2030?

Yes, ma'am.

So that's working.

What's not working?

We still have to do a lot better in our financial oversight.

We have to still do better looking at how we're serving our adult population.

We have to do better in serving our low income populations.

Now, my numbers, I hear I hear what's being said here, but my numbers, the ones I look at and I think from the budget suggest that about one third of that money historically would come from the student, about two thirds from the state, roughly.

And now that's flipped, at least from my perspective, in the information I've been receiving.

Well, that's bound to create a problem, particularly for those who are on the lower income level.

And that's that's probably my most primary concern at this point.

$54 million was the number.

$54 million of federal financial aid is left on the table every year by Kentucky families to help a family get that first generation student across the finish line.

It is a perceived cost.

And when we do go as as President McFadden said, and look at the return on the investment over the lifetime of an earner, it is significant.

So if there are two key takeaways from your program tonight, families need to pursue every opportunity because the cost can be minimized in ways that are very beneficial to offsetting any any tuition cost and room and board cost.

So, number one, if you've got a student in your home or in your family that wants to go to college, the men and women in post-secondary education in Kentucky want to help make that happen.

So let's all work together to get that done.

We covered a lot of ground last night, including the U.S. Supreme Court's decision ending race based considerations on admissions.

You can see the full hour discussion online on demand at Kate Dawgs KUCI tonight.