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Daily News
November 30, 2003
Record enrollments at Kentucky colleges expected to continue
Enrollment at Kentucky’s colleges and universities has reached all-time highs
over the past few years, and a U.S. Department of Education survey released last
week projects that enrollment will continue to grow over the next decade.
The statistical survey, released annually by the department’s National
Center for Education Statistics, predicts that enrollment at degree-granting
institutions, including two-year and four-year colleges and universities, will
grow by 19 percent by 2013.
Another trend projected to continue is that more women are receiving degrees
than men.
The survey projects that the number of women obtaining associate’s degrees
will grow by 30 percent over the next 10 years, with the number of bachelor’s
degrees obtained by women expected to increase by 25 percent for the same period.
By contrast, the number of associate’s and bachelor’s degrees received
by men are expected to increase by only 7 percent and 16 percent, respectively,
between now and 2013.
Western Kentucky University has been the fastest-growing public college in
Kentucky over the past five years, adding more than 3,000 students, and while
this growth has been phenomenal, the school has felt some growing pains and
is now taking steps to handle past and future growth, President Gary Ransdell
said.
“We’re happy about the way we’ve grown and we feel like it’s
helping us move toward attaining the position we want as one of the best comprehensive
universities in the state,” Ransdell said. “But we understand that
there are going to be some difficulties that we’ll have to deal with to
get there.”
Gaps in state funding for the school over the past few years has forced Western
to put some brakes on its continued growth, and the clamps may become tighter
in the future, depending on what the state General Assembly does in its upcoming
session that begins in January, he said.
“It’s a little hard to think five or 10 years down the road given
the current uncertainties with state funding,” Ransdell said. “But
my hunch is that we’re going to have to grow at a more modest rate over
the next few years because of state funding problems.”
According to Western’s traditional funding model, the state provides two-thirds
of the school’s operational funding, with tuition covering the remaining
costs.
However, a weakened economy and a state budget that has floundered with large
deficits over the past two years has left Western’s state funding far below
the optimal level for the kind of growth the school has experienced. This has
forced the university to make up a larger-than-normal amount of its budget with
tuition increases.
Next spring, the General Assembly will vote on its budget for the 2004-05 biennium,
giving Western and other colleges in the state a good idea of the funding levels
they can expect for the next five or six years, Ransdell said.
“At that point, we’ll be in a better position to know exactly what
we’re looking forward to,” he said.
At the same time, Western has been forced to become more selective in its admissions
policies to curb its growth at sustainable levels, a process that may become
more pronounced over the next few years, Ransdell said.
“We’ve raised our admissions requirements to a minimum of 20 ACT
score or 2.5 high school GPA, and we may have to become even more selective
in the future,” he said. “Fortunately, we have the community college
that has open enrollment, and that has helped us to have a place for prospective
students to go if they don’t meet our higher standards.”
Stricter admissions policies at Western and a broader interest in post secondary
education has led to record growth and enrollments for Kentucky’s Community
and Technical College System, said Mark Brooks, spokesman for Bowling Green
Technical College.
“Our enrollment is at a record high this year, and so is the enrollment
for the system as a whole,” Brooks said. “We’re very pleased
that we have reached this level.”
But the community college system also faces dilemmas created by continued growth
without commensurate funding, he said.
“That’s a situation we’ll be watching carefully over the next
few months,” Brooks said.
Herald-Leader
December 2, 2003
Educators urge legislators to find scholarship funds
NEED-BASED AWARDS SHOULD GET PRIORITY IN FUNDING, REPORT SAYS
FRANKFORT - Facing an anticipated $3 million shortfall in state scholarship
programs, education administrators yesterday urged lawmakers to try finding
more money before cutting the programs.
A legislative panel dealing with education then approved a report on the Kentucky
Educational Excellence Scholarship program, a merit-based grant program known
as KEES.
The report recommended that need-based scholarships be given priority over
merit-based, if alternative funding cannot be found.
"Try to find a way to keep KEES alive until there's a funding source,"
said Thomas Layzell, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education.
The KEES program is expected to be $3.3 million short in 2005-06. The situation
could worsen depending on the effect of Tennessee's planned lottery on Kentucky's
lottery.
KEES scholarships go to Kentucky high school students as a reward for good
grades and test scores. Those with higher grade-point averages and test scores
get more money.
Under the program, created in 1998, students may receive up to $2,500 for each
year of college. Students who get the grant money, in most cases, must attend
a school in Kentucky.
The report, prepared by the Legislative Research Commission and accepted yesterday
by the General Assembly's interim joint Education Committee, made these basic
recommendations:
• If money is needed to fund the scholarship program beyond what is generated
from lottery proceeds, then need-based scholarships should have priority ahead
of merit-based.
• To preserve equity throughout the system, students' award amounts should
be based on numeric grade averages rather than their grade-point averages. Currently,
some students could be getting lesser awards than others because of the way
their school issues grades.
• High school students also should be able to use their KEES money toward
dual-credit courses and Advanced Placement exams.
Approving the report and its recommendations does not necessarily mean the
state's policy will change in those areas, said Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Erlanger.
Many of the ideas would need some legislative action, said Westwood, co-chairman
of the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education.
The Gleaner
December 2, 2003
HCC paper earns high honor -- again
When Henderson Community College sophomore Lenora Morris first began working
for her school's newspaper "The Hill" last year, she didn't know what
she was getting into.
The focus on getting the story right. The worries about meeting deadlines.
The difficulty of producing a paper with only a 15-person staff.
But those efforts have paid off. For the 10th time in 11 years, "The Hill"
has been named the best overall paper in the 35th annual Kentucky Community
College Newspaper Competition.
Morris, who was the paper's editor last year, won third place for single page
layout along with fellow sophomore Wes Baggerly.
Students aren't the only one proud of the success of "The Hill."
The paper's advisor said he uses past performance as a lure for potential staffers.
"Whenever I talk to high school journalism classes, I manage to mention
the fact that we have been named the best community college paper in the state,
so it's definitely a recruiting tool that I use," said Tony Strawn, who
teaches photography, journalism and communications at HCC.
The students who write, produce and gather advertising for the eight-times-per-year
paper are not always journalism majors. Some, like 19-year-old Morris, are majoring
in business, while others, such as Baggerly, are studying telecommunications.
But despite their varied majors, most of the 12 HCC students who received certificates
for their hard work are pleased with their efforts.
"I just found out about this 10 minutes ago," laughed Cody Rice,
a 20-year-old sophomore biology major who won two awards, including a first-place
honor for a feature photo of a Sept. 11, 2002, memorial service.
Her picture -- of a student playing "Taps" on the HCC campus while
an American flag fluttered in the background -- was also good enough to win
a Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association award in March.
The awards varied from advertising to layout to sports and news stories to
critical reviews. Andrea Askins of Henderson was one student who was honored
for her third-place review of the first album by rock-pop band "Simple
Plan."
"I'm excited," she said. "It's an honor. I have always really
enjoyed writing, so to actually get an award means a lot to me."
Other honorees included:
- Advertising; second place, Beth Cambron
- Critical review; second place, Wes Baggerly
- News story; second place, John Stone; third place, Jillian Messer
- Sports story; first place, B.C. Thomas; second place, Andrew Clevenger; third
place, Travis Hobbs
- Sports column; first place, Travis Hobbs; second place, B.C. Thomas
- Sports photo; third place, Al Mason
- Photo essay; first place, Cody Rice and Wes Baggerly
- Feature photo; second place, Abby Kuester
The paper's Web site is www.hencc.kctcs.edu/thehill. The next issue of "The
Hill" will be released on Jan. 30.
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