Overview

CPE is committed to helping students make successful transitions between one level of education to the next, whether that be from high school graduation to college enrollment or from a two-year to a four-year institution. When students are academically and emotionally prepared for the next step in their educational journey, they are more likely to persist to credential completion.
The following key indicators are used to track statewide progress in this area:

• Undergraduate Enrollment: Total unduplicated number of students who enroll in an undergraduate program in an academic year, either full-time or part-time.
• Immediate College-Going Rate: Percent of recent Kentucky high school graduates who attend any in-state or out-of-state postsecondary institution in the summer, fall or spring following high school graduation.

Explore Our Dashboards

Dual Credit Enrollment and Success

Learn about student participation and success in dual credit programs offered at Kentucky's public and AIKCU universities, and KCTCS.

Undergraduate Enrollment

View trends in undergraduate enrollment at Kentucky's public and AIKCU institutions.

Gateway Course Success

Discover the completion rates of gateway math and English courses (the first credit-bearing college-level courses in a program) of freshmen attending Kentucky's public institutions.

CPE's Work in This Area

CPE is working with its partners to help more high school students apply to college and make a successful postsecondary transition.

Commonwealth Education Continuum

CPE continued to facilitate and manage the Commonwealth Education Continuum (CEC), a P-20 initiative that promotes statewide initiatives among P-12, postsecondary, community and workforce leaders aimed at strengthening Kentucky’s education pipeline. Workgroups are focused on four areas: postsecondary affordability, K-12 educator workforce, P-20 competency framework and advising and transitional support.

Dual Credit and Early Postsecondary Opportunities

CPE recently overhauled its dual credit policy, which now includes a statewide goal for 50% of Kentucky high school graduates to complete a dual credit course with a grade of “C” or higher by the year 2030. Dual credit courses are aligned to KDE’s career and technical pathways or CPE’s general education core requirements. Additional changes emphasize the importance of increasing dual credit access for underserved populations and ensuring postsecondary institutions accept dual credit to meet general education requirements. CPE held monthly webinars on dual credit and early postsecondary opportunities for high school and postsecondary advisors, created and continuously improved a dual credit toolkit and provided numerous onsite workshops throughout the year. CPE also facilitated the Dual Credit Advisory Committee to increase communication, collaboration and alignment.

The Great Admissions Redesign

In early 2024, Lumina Foundation named CPE one of seven winners of The Great Admissions Redesign. Led by CPE’s Kentucky Student Success Collaborative (KYSSC), the agency received $150,000 to facilitate a collaborative, student-centered, design-thinking continuous improvement approach to address long-standing barriers and untapped potential in admissions and financial aid processes. This work culminated in five strategic priorities: improving transcript accessibility, expanding dual credit, bringing transparency to financial aid, strengthening proactive communications in grades 9-12 and supporting seamless transfer.

Equitable and Accelerated Pathways

In 2023, CPE joined a national initiative called “Launch: Equitable and Accelerated Pathways for All.” CPE, the lead agency, is working with 10 state partners to expand access to high-quality college and career pathways. During phase one, staff conducted needs assessments; participated in cross-state curated academies for each focus area (policy, data, partnerships and funding); convened stakeholder focus groups; and created a strategic action plan. In phase two, Kentucky will participate in a national community of practice and continue efforts to move the work forward.

Advising Outreach

The Kentucky Advising Academy (KAA) continues to expand its work across the state. KAA provided webinars and connected educators to advising content through social media, email and in-person professional development sessions. KAA presented at national conferences hosted by the National College Attainment Network and the Association of Career and Technical Education. Through a partnership with Education Strategy Group (ESG), KAA launched the Kentucky Postsecondary Advising Framework and implementation guidance to support districts in building robust postsecondary advising systems. In March 2025, KAA awarded mini-grants reimbursable up to $10,000 to six K-12 public schools and area technology centers. These grants supported new or expanded efforts to increase college advising capacity.

GEAR UP Kentucky (GUK)

GUK served nearly 6,000 students in 12 school districts and 9 postsecondary institutions in 2023-24, with a central goal of improving successful transitions between secondary and postsecondary education. Program staff provided 18,000 hours of student advising (an 18% increase from the previous year), 18,600 hours of college and career readiness curricula and 1,488 hours of student leadership development programs. To provide early exposure to postsecondary campuses, 737 high school students participated in 91 college visits during the school year, and 27 students participated in a three-week residential GUK Summer Academy at Northern Kentucky University, where they completed three hours of free college credit. As a result, GUK saw significant gains in key outcomes over the previous year. For the sixth year in a row, GUK’s high school graduation rate (95%) exceeded the state’s overall graduation rate (92%), and the percentage of high school seniors completing a college application increased an additional 14 percentage points (61% to 75%). GUK saw a significant 22 percentage-point jump in advising participation in the first year of postsecondary education, with 31% of GUK college freshman participating in at least three advising sessions during their freshman year.