Overview

Over the past decade, Kentucky's colleges and universities have made significant strides in improving student retention and graduation rates, narrowing completion gaps at an unprecedented pace. However, more work is needed to sustain and build on these gains. CPE is partnering with campuses to implement innovative, evidence-based strategies and foster a unified commitment to continuous improvement, ensuring that more students earn high-quality degrees and credentials that prepare them to thrive in a rapidly evolving workforce.

Increasing success will be quantified through the following key performance indicators - 

• Undergraduate Degrees and Credentials Conferred - Total degrees and credentials awarded by public universities and KCTCS institutions. 
• Graduation Rate – The percent of first-time, full-time credential-seeking students receiving a bachelor’s degree within 6 years at public universities, or an associate degree or credential within 3 years at KCTCS from their starting institution. 
• 2-Year to 4-Year Transfer – Percent of first-time, full-time credential-seeking students entering KCTCS in the fall who transfer to any in-state, 4-year public institution within 3 years of entry. 
• Persistence Rate – Percent of first-time, credential-seeking students enrolled in the summer of fall who are still enrolled the following fall at any in-state postsecondary institution or, in the case of KCTCS students, have completed a credential. 
• Retention Rate – Percent of first-time, credential-seeking students enrolled in the summer or fall who return to the same institution the following fall. 

Explore Our Dashboards

Retention Rates

Learn first- to second-year retention rates of students attending four-year public institutions and KCTCS.

Graduation Rates

View two- and three-year graduation rates for KCTCS institutions, as well as four-, five- and six-year graduation rates for the state's public universities.

Undergraduate Degrees and Credentials

Explore undergraduate credential data by academic programs at Kentucky two- and four-year institutions by year, classification, and more.

CPE's Work on This Priority

CPE promotes high-impact practices that research has proven to be effective in increasing student persistence and completion. Staff works with campuses to implement both academic and non-academic policies and services to support holistic student development and workforce readiness.

Kentucky Student Success Collaborative (KYSSC)

KYSSC is a unit of CPE funded by a grant from the James Graham Brown Foundation. KYSSC leads strategy development and implementation for admissions redesign, transfer partnerships, gateway course success, student basic needs, mental health and adult attainment. For each priority, KYSSC facilitates communities of practice to provide professional development, foster cross-institutional and community collaboration and drive continuous improvement of promising and best-practice implementation. In September 2024, KYSSC launched the Kentucky Leadership exChange, a professional development program to train campuses to lead student-centered change. KYSSC also promotes resource sharing through the Impact exChange, an online platform for faculty and practitioners.

Learn more about the KYSSC

Student Basic Needs

In partnership with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), Kynectors have been placed at all KCTCS campuses and are actively helping students meet their basic needs by accessing federal, state and community resources. Planning is underway to extend Kynector coverage to Kentucky’s public universities, with targeted onboarding and technical assistance provided to institutional partners throughout the summer and fall of 2025. KYSSC was selected to represent Kentucky in the inaugural SHEEO Basic Needs Academy, a national initiative that supports state systems in advancing student basic needs policy and infrastructure.

Improving Transfer

In 2024, KYSSC expanded its capacity to lead transfer partnership work by hiring a transfer strategy lead and five part-time senior fellows, as well as establishing a transfer guiding team comprised of KCTCS and university partners. Key initiatives include the development of a transfer data dashboard, a student voice research project to explore barriers to transfer, the launch of a transfer community of practice and expansion of transfer improvement communities.

Gateways to Opportunity

CPE and KYSSC released a report on actions taken to improve the corequisite developmental education model and ensure it works equally well for all students. Current priorities include the development of a dashboard to track disaggregated data on student enrollment and success in gateway courses and facilitating a related community of practice.

2024 Student Success Summit

The 14th annual Kentucky Student Success Summit was held February 10-11, 2025, at the University of Kentucky Gatton Student Center. The theme was “Transformational Leadership.” While inclement weather derailed programming on day two, those sessions were provided at a later date by webinar format to all registrants. Over 470 faculty, staff and administrators from Kentucky’s public and private colleges attended the convening.

Mental Health & Suicide Prevention

In February 2025, KYSSC released the statewide mental health strategy, marking a significant milestone in Kentucky’s commitment to supporting student mental wellness. KYSSC hosted its second statewide Mental Health Convening in May 2025, bringing together a diverse group of practitioners, educators and decision-makers from across the Commonwealth. Over 70 campus partners engaged in collaborative planning, shared promising practices and began shaping institution-specific and system-level approaches to advance mental health outcomes for all students.

Focus on Adult Learners

In October 2024, the KYSSC hosted an Adult Attainment Convening welcoming 200+ partners from across the state to discuss common priorities and challenges to support adult learner degree completion. Additionally, CPE teamed up with Ithaka S+R, a non-profit educational research and consulting organization, to identify and reduce barriers that prevent adults from completing a postsecondary credential.

Learn more about adult learner work

Kentucky Faculty Leadership Academy

The inaugural cohort of 25 participants from community and technical colleges and universities met from October 2024 through May 2025. These full-time, mid-career faculty worked with campus mentors and CPE staff to gain a deeper understanding of not only what leadership entails, but also their institutions’ place within state and national postsecondary landscapes.

Learn more about KyFLA

Kentucky Graduate Profile

The Graduate Profile is the state’s higher education learning framework identifying ten essential skills for undergraduate mastery. CPE is working with campus representatives to create a statewide implementation plan by fall 2025 and provided grants to help institutions fully implement Graduate Profile-related work by the end of academic year 2027-28.

Learn more about the Graduate Profile