The Veterinary Contract Spaces program provides financial assistance and access to Kentucky students seeking a veterinary education and helps ensure the availability of sufficient veterinary workers in the Commonwealth. The program allows Kentucky students to pay in-state tuition rates at out-of-state veterinary schools.
I ne Kentucky Affordable Prepaid Tuition (KAPT) program was intended to provide Kentucky families an affordable way to save for future tuition costs by providing tuition guarantees in exchange for families' up-front investment. The program has not accepted new enrollees since 2004.
The Innovative Scholarship Program was created by the 2022 General Assembly in the 2022-2024 appropriations act. KHEAA and CPE developed the program to serve two groups of students. The Kentucky Humanitarian Assistance Scholarship serves displaced students who are foreign nationals that have received asylum, resettled refugees, or are in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status, humanitarian parole, or through a special immigrant visa. The Kentucky Scholarship for Cultural Exchange is awarded to Kentucky residents who are participating in study abroad programs.
The Kentucky Rural Veterinary Medicine Student Loan Repayment program was created to provide student loan repayment assistance for livestock practitioners who practice in underserved rural areas or shortage areas for five consecutive years.
The Student Teacher Stipend program reduces financial barriers faced by students who are completing educator preparation programs and entering the educator workforce by providing stipends during the semester the student is performing his or her required student teaching.
The Teacher Recruitment Student Loan Forgiveness program funds loans to students preparing to become certified teachers in Kentucky public schools. Recipients must agree to render qualified teaching service in the Commonwealth
Policy
Due to its reliance on $89 million in one-time funding in the fiscal year 2026 budget from past unappropriated lottery funds, and a slight reduction in the lottery revenue estimate, the amount of total lottery funds for student financial programs is less than in the 2024-26 budget. The Governor's budget dedicates one-hundred percent of Lottery revenues to student financial aid. A slight reduction in lottery revenue and the unavailability of the one time-funds means the number of student financial aid recipients or the aid awards may decline.
Kentucky's need-based aid programs, the College Access Program (CAP) and the Kentucky Tuition Grant (KTG) program, have benefited from the dedication and growth of Lottery receipts in the past several biennia, funding all eligible applicants for the first time ever in the 2022-2024 biennium and continuing the trend in the current biennium. The maximum grant award for CAP increased from $2,900 to $5,300 over the course of the 2022-2024 biennium and remains at that level currently. When leveraging federal Pell Grant dollars, the CAP program covers full-time tuition and fees at KCTCS and four-year regional universities in Kentucky, and nearly covers the average tuition and fees at four-year public research institutions. Additional General Fund in the amount of $8,093,400 in each fiscal year is included from Lottery receipts for the College Access Program (CAP), but available Restricted Funds have declined as described above and total just $22,584,100 in each fiscal year. Unless the award levels are reduced, the reduced funding will result in returning the CAP and the Kentucky Tuition Grant programs to a first-come, first-serve model that KHEAA has administered for many years.
General Fund for the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) is flat in fiscal years 2027 and 2028, while available Restricted Funds from Unclaimed Lottery Prize revenue have declined to $12,300,000 in each fiscal year, leaving KEES short about 12% in fiscal year 2027 and 13% short in fiscal year 2028 when compared to the consensus estimate of the program's needs. KRS 164.7879(1) from the original KEES legislation governs KHEAA's ability to adjust the base KEES award after considering the availability of funds.
Any unbudgeted Lottery revenue will be appropriated pursuant to KRS 154A.130(4).
The budget provides additional Restricted Funds of $665,000 in each fiscal year for the Teacher Scholarship Program, which provides need-based financial aid to attract Kentucky students into the teaching profession. The additional funding will fund 117 additional applicants in each fiscal year.
Additional Restricted Funds of $50,000 per fiscal year are included for the Coal County Scholarship for Pharmacy students, which will provide support for an additional 5 scholarship recipients each year.
Funding for the Early Childhood Development Scholarship is appropriated to the Community Based Services budget unit in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, but will be administered by KHEAA per statute.