UPike Makes Pitch For State Status

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...In a 28-page pitch released Friday by the office of House Speaker Greg Stumbo, University of Pikeville President Paul Patton, who was governor from 1995-2003, said the private university is committed to raising the higher education level of eastern Kentucky’s coal counties to the state average within 10 years if the General Assembly brings it into the state system. Stumbo and Patton say details of the bill are still being worked out, and they expect it will be filed next week. The information released Friday says funding for the university would come from an annual state appropriation of $13 million that would be taken from state coal severance tax revenues that now are returned to coal counties for multi-county economic development projects. The central argument for the plan is that 9.1 percent of adults in southeastern Kentucky have bachelor’s or higher degree compared to the state average of 17.1 percent and the national average of 24.4 percent. UPike proposes to have primary responsibility for serving 12 counties, eight of which are now in the service region of Morehead State University and four of which are in the region of Eastern Kentucky University.