Northeastern Kentucky is a wonderful place to live and work, but obstacles remain that restrict educational attainment and accompanying economic and community development. Our citizens' educational and literacy achievement do not measure up when compared to national and statewide standards. For our citizens and communities to compete in the 21st century, maintain the quality of life we enjoy, and keep our economic viability strong, we must address the following issues:

Financial Need of Students
Students continue to cite lack of finances as the primary reason they do not enter or complete college. Over 70 percent of the current student body is on some form of financial aid. Many students can only afford to take one class at a time because they also work fulltime.

Educational Attainment for Our Area
Only 14 percent of our service area population age 25 and over possess an associate or bachelor's degree. The nationwide average is 24 percent.

Workforce Issues
According to data from the Kentucky 2000 Census, a large percentage of Kentucky's workforce will retire in the next 10 years. It is also projected that the number of workers age 2539 entering the Kentucky workforce will remain constant through the year 2030. We must get younger students to realize the necessity of postsecondary education. The U. S. Department of Labor forecasts that nearly 80% of all jobs will require some postsecondary technical training, but will not necessarily require a bachelor's degree.