RELEASED: December 18, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—In October, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced the formation of the Higher Education Work Group to wrestle with the complex issues of affordability and access to higher education in Kentucky. The Governor convened the 25-member panel to help ensure that no qualified Kentuckian be denied access to postsecondary education because of financial barriers. Jacob Raderer '09 of Centre College was chosen to be a member of the student committee of the task force.

Raderer, of Louisville, is president of Centre's Student Government Association

The Governor’s Higher Education Work Group has been charged with studying a number of issues surrounding affordability and access and making two sets of recommendations. Its first report, due January 15, will address short-term cost saving opportunities in areas such as textbook costs and increased campus efficiencies. The final report, due in September 2009, will include recommendations on long-range strategic issues such as financial aid, tuition and public funding policies and will hopefully lead to enhanced opportunities for higher education in Kentucky.

Governor Beshear, recognizing the integral role that independent colleges and universities like Centre play in postsecondary education in Kentucky, appointed independent college representatives to the Work Group and to two advisory groups that will inform the Work Group’s efforts from stakeholders’ perspectives.

Kentucky’s 20 independent, nonprofit colleges and universities, all members of the Association for Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities (AIKCU), have committed to doubling the number of transfers they enroll and bachelor’s degrees they produce by 2020 as part of Kentucky’s ambitious “Double the Numbers” public agenda. Independent colleges produce about 22 percent of Kentucky's bachelor's degrees and high proportions of graduates in key fields such as teaching, math and science, and the health sciences. Independent college students receive about $53 million in state student financial aid, or just less than 4 percent of the Commonwealth’s annual investment in higher education. Kentucky’s independent colleges have strong values and provide high quality educations at low average tuitions in comparison to national and regional private college averages.

For more on the Governor’s Higher Education Work Group, including meeting schedules and materials, click here.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.