According to the US Chamber of Commerce, Kentucky has 74 available workers for every 100 job openings. Although we've slowly climbed toward our pre-pandemic job participation rates, there is still more to be done.

This reason alone has led higher education institutions to broaden their horizons in order to give students opportunities to fill in these gaps. Exhibit A: UK's newest partnership with Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS).

This week, it was announced that students working toward a two-year degree within one of KCTCS' 16 colleges will have an easier time transferring to UK. This makes the pipeline to graduating with a four-year degree more accessible, thus making it easier to fill those job gaps.

"This important partnership broadens access to higher education for all Kentuckians, especially those who might not have considered pursuing a bachelor’s degree," said Eli Capilouto, President of UK. "By working together, we can achieve more for our state and fulfill our promise to graduate more students and strengthen our communities."

To ensure that students are supported during the transfer process, the partnership will:

Expand credit acceptance + admission requirements to make transferring to UK easier
Waive application fees for KCTCS students
Offer students access to UK transfer advisers and special events

This is the second partnership KCTCS has introduced in recent days. Asbury University in Wilmore also recently signed a similar partnership with KCTCS, giving students studying education, business, digital content creation, instructional design, and social work an easier path to receive their bachelor's degrees.