Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Dual Credit College Affordability topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Witnesses tell subcommittee dual-credit scholarship has been cut as college costs rise
Summary
Witnesses at the Budget Review Subcommittee on Education hearing said dual-credit scholarships now cover one class per year, cited a $203-per-credit dual-credit rate for 2025–26, and warned that college tuition has risen sharply in recent years.
Jerome Gels, principal of the Ignite Institute in Erlanger, told the Budget Review Subcommittee on Education on June 3 that students at his school pay for dual-credit classes themselves and that the state’s dual-credit scholarship now covers one class per year, down from two.
Gels said college tuition has increased about 100% over the past five years. At the hearing, representatives of the Goldwater Institute, Dr. Timothy Minella and Michael Frazier, also testified on rising college attendance costs; Frazier told the panel there are inconsistent faculty workloads across postsecondary institutions.
Travis Powell, executive vice president and general counsel for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, explained the tuition-setting process and said dual-credit scholarships paid $203 per credit hour in 2025–26. Powell added that if a high school student exhausts the scholarship in a given year they can pay the reduced scholarship rate out of pocket to take additional dual-credit courses.
The testimony documented concerns about student out-of-pocket costs and scholarship limits but did not produce a formal motion or vote. Committee members asked clarifying questions about scholarship design, faculty workloads, and how tuition-setting varies by institution. The subcommittee adjourned at 12:26 PM ET with no committee action recorded.
