Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
Berea College has operated tuition-free since 1892, accepting only students from low-income backgrounds and funding their education entirely through an endowment, a model that remains genuinely unique in American higher education and has produced graduates who go on to competitive graduate programs and careers at rates that rival much wealthier institutions.
The University of Kentucky and University of Louisville anchor opposite ends of the state with competitive medical, pharmacy, and engineering programs that serve the region well.
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See how Kentucky's colleges compare to the national average on the four measures most students and families weigh when deciding where to go: cost, acceptance rates, graduate earnings, and graduation rates.
The colleges in Kentucky that rank highest by UCD Score, and those that deliver above-national graduate earnings at a below-average net price, two of the strongest signals when choosing a school.
Not every student is looking for the same thing. These six panels rank Kentucky's colleges by the data that matters most for each path.
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by net price
Ranked by enrollment
Ranked by grad earnings
Which colleges give you the most for what you spend? These eight schools rank highest in Kentucky by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hazard Community and Technical College Hazard | $2,955 | $29,868 | 10.1× | Excellent |
| 2 | Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College Bowling Green | $3,537 | $34,242 | 9.7× | Excellent |
| 3 | Big Sandy Community and Technical College Prestonsburg | $3,873 | $32,954 | 8.5× | Excellent |
| 4 | Henderson Community College Henderson | $4,232 | $35,714 | 8.4× | Excellent |
| 5 | Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College Cumberland | $3,731 | $29,482 | 7.9× | Excellent |
| 6 | Berea College Berea | $6,106 | $43,150 | 7.1× | Excellent |
| 7 | Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Elizabethtown | $5,143 | $36,143 | 7.0× | Excellent |
| 8 | Somerset Community College Somerset | $4,398 | $30,787 | 7.0× | Excellent |
ROI Ratio = median earnings 10 years after enrollment ÷ annual net price. Higher is better.
The six fields of study with the most annual graduates across all colleges in Kentucky, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across Kentucky's colleges. A more granular view than the Popular Majors above, useful when you already know roughly what you want to study and want to see where the volume is.
The cities in Kentucky with the most colleges, ranked by number of institutions.
Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
Northeast college graduates earn about $12,700 more a decade out than Southern ones, but they also pay thousands more to get there. The regional split, by the numbers.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
