Kentucky has 30 private and 8 public 4-year colleges that enroll 22,283 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $24,956 for in-state students and $36,137 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Kentucky charge around $29,497 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Kentucky provided $52.6 million in financial aid to 16,454 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $222.5 million in grants and scholarships to 20,483 students.

Kentucky receives 1.6% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 9,343 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $45.2 million in pell grant ($5,031 per student on average), and 11,968 students received a total amount of $65.8 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($6,477 per student on average).