A decade after Kentucky passed ambitious higher education reform legislation, there are fewer Kentucky college students and low-income students are not attending college at higher rates.

Those were two revelations that came out before the Affordability Subcommittee Tuesday of Gov. Steve Beshear’s Higher Education Workgroup. The group is supposed to provide short-term recommendations by January and long-term recommendations by September on how to accomplish the goals of the 1997 higher education bill, including doubling the number of Kentucky residents with undergraduate degrees by 2020.

But according to state Auditor Crit Luallen, a member of the workgroup and affordability subcommittee whose office did an audit of college tuition and enrollment last year, the state will fall 200,000 degrees short of that goal at the current rate of progress.

Tuition in Kentucky – once below the national average – now exceeds the national average. And it’s likely to go higher as the state faces yet another budget shortfall.

And according to Sue Patrick of the Council on Higher Education (CPE), the rate at which students from Kentucky’s low-income families has not changed in 10 years. That statistic is from the National Center for Educational Statistics, according to Joe McCormick, president of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA).

Just as surprising, Luallen’s audit last year found 956 fewer Kentucky students were enrolled in Kentucky’s public universities than 10 years ago – meaning enrollment growth is from out-of-state students. One of the findings of the audit was that in-state tuition increased at faster rates than that for out-of-state students relative to other states.

The in-state tuition increases were documented by Dr. Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst and Economics Professor at Skidmore College in New York, who presented an analysis of Kentucky college costs to the subcommittee Tuesday.

Baum found Kentucky’s tuition rates for 4-year institutions slightly over the national average and significantly higher than other southern states which generally have lower tuition rates than the rest of the country. Only Virginia and South Carolina have higher tuition rates in the south, she said. Tuition at Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges, however, is near the top of the national average and the highest in the south, she said.

But tuition costs can mislead, Baum said. When financial aid is factored in, college remains affordable for most students. And she said student loans are a reasonable expense given the increase in earning power of a bachelor’s degree.

Nationally, between 60 and 65 percent of college students obtain student loans and, on average, those who graduate owe $20,000.

“That’s quite reasonable for most people who get an undergraduate degree and get a job,” Baum said.

Luallen questioned that reasoning, pointing out that Kentucky is a poor state and many students aren’t getting to college. She said afterward that tuition remains a barrier to many students in Kentucky.

Baum said most states have increased financial aid, but unlike the federal aid program which is targeted to low-income students, half of Kentucky’s student aid is non-need based. Those are the Kentucky Education Excellence Scholarships or KEES which are based on grades earned in high school and funded from lottery proceeds. But those go disproportionately to students who enjoy the support at home for education and generally enjoy higher family incomes.

She urged the subcommittee to target more aid to financial need and to simplify application forms and processes. Many students never seek federal financial aid she said, either because they don’t know about it or don’t know how to apply.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.