Finding the Right Reason for KCTCS Enrollment Drop

In “KCTCS enrollment decreases, STATE BUDGET CUTS ARE CITED” the state’s community and technical college system blames money shortages for a drop in enrollment this year.

Perhaps.

However, the fact that the news article reports enrollment is actually up at some campuses makes one wonder if something else might actually be going on.

For example, we know the youth unemployment rate in Kentucky is now the worst it has ever been since KERA began. So a lot of our 16 to 19 year olds are not prepared for the world of work.

Maybe, because the community college system, like businesses that hire direct from high school, draws from lower achieving students, the drop might be due to more kids at the bottom of the performance range being inadequately prepared to take on higher education and being smart enough to not run up a lot of debt just to prove it.

Just a speculation to start a conversation.