Students at six public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System received some good news Monday: tuition and fee hikes this fall will range between 1.9 and 2.2 percent. The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education approved the rates. Bill Payne, the CPE’s vice president for Finance and Administration, credited President Aaron Thompson and council members for, among other things, setting caps five years ago.
“We want to make sure that we maintain the minimum amount of increases in any given year, especially since President Thompson has come on board. So President Thompson is obviously one factor. Our council members share that philosophy, so that's another factor.”
Payne said school presidents and leaders in Frankfort are also responsible for the council’s ability to sign off on relatively low hikes.
“I would credit the General Assembly with some of the recent increases in funding. Our performance funding allocation increased from $97.3 million to $105 million for this upcoming academic year.”
Payne said the General Assembly added another $35 million for an across-the-board inflation adjustment, and performance funding for the following year will increase to $115 million. He said between 2009 and 2022, state funding for Kentucky’s post-secondary institutions was cut 11 times.
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