By Lisa Autry / Angela Hatton
Louisville, KY – Kentucky's colleges and universities set an enrollment record this fall. According to the council on postsecondary education, more than 254-thousand students are furthering their education, a five-percent increase from a year ago. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System has seen the largest increase in students, estimating that enrollment has topped 100-thousand for the first time. C-P-E President Bob King says emerging technology demands more education and training.
"Technology is changing so quickly that the notion that somebody is going to start a job when they're twenty years old, 22 years old and have that for 40 or 50 years and retire, those days are probably over and to the extent that they will need some additional education it may not be a degree but some additional higher education, I think is reality."
The recession might be another reason more students are seeking new job skills. Community and technical schools often see enrollment spikes in hard economic times. Murray State University is seeing numbers consistent with last year, with a student population of about ten-thousand.