Cost of college on lawmakers' minds

This from Art Jester at the H-L:

FRANKFORT — Tuition at Kentucky's public universities and community colleges has shot up an average of 12 percent a year over the last five years, which is about four times the rate of inflation and the growth of the state's median family income.

That may be putting the cost of a college education out of reach for ordinary Kentuckians, worried state legislators and postsecondary education officials said Monday.

“Something's got to happen,” said Richard A. Crofts, the interim president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education.

“It can't continue, and we're going to have to develop a plan,” he said...

...Crofts said Kentucky's plan will have to take into account several factors:

■ An expectation that costs will go up.

■ A reasonable expectation of what Kentuckians should pay for college.

■ A reasonable expectation of how much students should borrow to help pay for college without being saddled with too much debt.

■ A reasonable expectation of what students should contribute to pay for their education, from summer earnings, campus jobs and the like...