One of Kentucky’s higher education leaders told local business and community members Thursday that building a stronger workforce depends on continued investment in postsecondary education, as well as local leaders helping shift public opinion about its value.
Dr. Aaron Thompson, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, spoke during the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Rooster Booster breakfast at the Owensboro Convention Center. The breakfast was sponsored by Brescia University.
Thompson outlined both the state’s progress and the challenges ahead, urging the audience to become advocates for higher education.
“Our job is building the economy of the state through a highly educated workforce,” Thompson said. “Higher education has to be the driver of that process.”
Thompson said that data shows Kentucky now exceeds the national average in retention, persistence, and completion rates. Educational attainment has climbed to 56.2%, leaving the state just shy of its “60×30” goal of 60% attainment by 2030, he said. He also noted progress in reducing student debt, with fewer graduates borrowing and average debt levels dropping by one-third.
Still, he cautioned that confidence in higher education has declined nationally, from 56% in 2015 to 36% in 2023, according to Gallup polling. Among young adults ages 18 to 34, confidence fell 18 percentage points.
“That’s the fact, that many of our K-12 students — only about half of them — are going on to college,” Thompson said. “If public opinion tells us that higher education doesn’t matter, then it’s your job in this room, and my job, to be part of the choir telling people it does.”
Thompson said higher education in Kentucky includes a full spectrum of credentials, from technical certificates to graduate degrees, all of which he said will be needed in the coming years. By 2030, he said, about 63% of jobs will require some form of postsecondary education.
He added that Kentucky campuses are working to align programs with workforce and industry needs, strengthen graduate employability, expand need-based aid, and provide more holistic student support services.
“Not everybody needs a four-year degree, but they will need some postsecondary,” Thompson said. “We’re going to need a little bit of everything to get where we’re going.”
By: John Kirkpatrick The Owensboro Times