About 6 in 10 Kentucky undergraduate students now graduate debt free, according to a report from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. That’s up from 2019-20, when about 4 in 10 students graduated debt free.

The Department of Education has shifted some of its higher ed functions to another agency.

Undergraduate certificate and associate degree enrollments each grew about 2% in fall 2025, while bachelor’s programs rose by less than 1%, according to the report. Community colleges now enroll 752,000 certificate students, up 28% from four years ago.

Shrinking state funding in the 1970s forced colleges to shift costs to students, ending the era of widespread tuition-free higher education. Expanded federal student loans then helped drive tuition sharply higher, according to History.