Kentucky is faced with serious challenges that threaten our economic prosperity and put us at a competitive disadvantage with nearly every other state in the nation.

Kentucky must expand access to an increasing level of postsecondary education and training to provide the pathway for better-paying jobs. Two-thirds of the jobs created in Kentucky over the next five years are projected to require the type of postsecondary education and training that community colleges provide.

The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education estimates that an additional 80,000 students must access higher education over the next 20 years in order to make Kentucky competitive with its benchmark states. Approximately 50,000 of those students are predicted to access higher education through a local two-year college like Henderson Community College.