The newest addition to the Council on Postsecondary Education’s Data Center is an interactive tool that evaluates the success of college and university students by county of origin.
Thompson
Kentucky leaders and policy makers can use this information to assess education attainment levels, along with state and county progress on key postsecondary education metrics. These include enrollment, degrees and graduation rates.
Each metric also includes breakouts by student populations, such as low-income, underrepresented minorities and first-time students.
“We have made great progress in closing racial and low-income gaps in attainment and improving overall success rates, but gaps still exist. This new tool provides a county-level snapshot that local leaders, communities and teachers can use to track their students’ progress in college,” said CPE President Aaron Thompson.
The report includes three tabs: enrollment, credentials and graduation rates.
Each tabs shows top majors, top five institutions and disaggregates counts by low-income and underrepresented minority, age ranges, institution type and academic year for trend analysis. The information is displayed in an interactive map of Kentucky counties, which filters by an individual county and benchmarks against statewide totals.
Combined statistical profile for Boone Campbell and Kenton Counties (click to enlarge).
“The good news is that the number of degrees and other credentials continues to increase, even while enrollment of Kentucky residents continues to decline,” Thompson said. “This means a higher proportion of our students are graduating. But it’s still not high enough, especially in our poorest counties,”
The state view shows top majors are in the academic areas of liberal arts, healthcare and business. The largest proportion of Kentucky resident students is in the age range of 18-24 years old.
Declining adult enrollment is a major contributor to the overall decline in the state’s enrollment.
This decrease is partly explained by an improving economy in the state, yet there remains too many Kentucky citizens who need a high value certificate or undergraduate degree to get a better job and fill workforce needs.
The county profile report is located here.
Council on Postsecondary Education
