Seeing our higher education growth (FTE edition)

Kentucky higher education has grown rapidly in recent years. With a lot of students attending part-time, it's worthwhile to adjust to "full-time equivalents" to get a clearer idea of how much added learning activity is underway and where it's happening.

First, here are the core numbers from the Council on Postsecondary Education, broken down by type of school.

Second, to give you a sense of the pace, the growth rates are:

• 27 percent overall
• 17 percent at the public universities
• 27 percent at independent colleges and universities
• 47 percent (!!) at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System

Finally, to give you one more visual of the growth, notice how KCTCS takes up half of the growth pie shown below.