College affordability will be a topic of discussion this Friday at the Muhammad Ali Center. The Tomorrow’s Talent summit will take a look at challenges around issues of workforce and education.
Michael Gritton is the executive director of Louisville Metro’s KentuckianaWorks, one of the organizations hosting the event.
“We rank relatively low compared to our peer cities on educational attainment, particularly the percentage of people with a college degree,” he said.
Nearly 11,000 associate degrees were awarded in the Commonwealth in the 2016-2017 academic year. Just over 23,000 bachelor’s degrees were awarded during the same time.
“One of the things we’re struggling with as a state is that some of our competitors have figured out ways to make community college free,” Gritton said.
That includes neighboring states like Tennessee. High school seniors there can apply for a scholarship through the organization Tennessee Promise, which would provide funding for community or technical college.
The coalition Louisville Promise, announced this year it’s in the beginning stages of offering a similar program for all Jefferson County Public School graduates.
The organization 55,000 Degrees, a co-host of Friday's event, hopes to increase education attainment by 55,000 postsecondary degrees in Louisville by 2020. The group will also release a report on college affordability in Louisville this Friday.
Tomorrow's Talent, the third annual workforce summit, will be at the Muhammad Ali Center on Dec. 8 from 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. More information can be found here.
