University of Kentucky
Lexington, KYSouth Limestone, Lexington, KY 40506-0032
859-257-9000
The University of Kentucky (UK) is a public university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's two land-grant universities (the other being Kentucky State University), the largest college or university in the state, with 29,099 students as of Fall 2015, and the highest ranked research university in the state according to U.S. News and World Report.
The university is a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and is classified as an "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". The university has three campuses in Lexington, Kentucky; Frankfort, Kentucky; and Georgetown, Kentucky. The university also operates two additional medical centers in Louisville and Lexington. UK has fifteen libraries on campus.
The university is home to the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, the UK Markey Cancer Center, the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, the UK Chandler Medical Center, the UK Rehabilitation Hospital, and the UK Good Samaritan Hospital. UK is also responsible for the creation of the state's only dental school, the UK College of Dentistry, and Kentucky's only medical school, the UK College of Medicine. The university has an annual economic impact of over $3.3 billion.
The University of Kentucky traces its roots to Lexington Theological Seminary, which was founded in 1780 and was one of the first in the west. The seminary became affiliated with Transylvania University in 1789. In 1818 it was chartered as a college, and in 1829 it began offering medical education. In 1838 the college merged with Transylvania University, but it reopened as a separate institution in 1858.
In 1866, the college was designated as one of the two land-grant colleges in Kentucky under the Morrill Act. In 1878, the name was changed to the State University, Lexington, Kentucky though it continued to be popularly known as Kentucky State University. In 1908 the college absorbed the Kentucky Normal School for Whites, which had been established in 1875. The college renamed itself Kentucky State University in 1916.
In 1927, the university was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and in 1930 the name was changed to the University of Kentucky. The university was segregated until 1950, when it began admitting African-American students.
The university began admitting women in 1952. UK was the first university in the South to desegregate its graduate and professional programs. In 1961, UK was the first Southern university to admit an African-American student to its undergraduate program.
The university began a period of rapid growth in the 1950s, adding a graduate school, a medical school, a dental school, a college of pharmacy, and many other programs and facilities. The university added more than a dozen buildings to its Lexington campus in the 1950s and 1960s.
In the 1970s, the university began to expand its reach beyond Lexington, establishing branch campuses in Ashland, Bowling Green, Covington, and Louisville. In the 1980s, UK added a college of engineering and a college of agriculture. In the 1990s, the university added a medical center in Lexington and a law school in Louisville.
The university has continued to grow in the 21st century, with new facilities and programs added regularly. The university now has over 29,000 students and more than 200 programs of study. UK is classified as an "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, and it is ranked as the 106th-best university in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Quick Facts
Enrollment: 29986
Acceptance Rate: 96.36%
Type: Public, 4-year or above
Main Website: https://www.uky.edu/
Financial Aid: https://www.uky.edu/financialaid
Annual Costs
Total Cost In-State On-Campus: $31546
Total Cost Out-State On-Campus: $50356
Return on Investment Rating
The estimated cost for four years as an undergraduate at University of Kentucky is $121379.83. This includes the average cost of attendance for four years plus the interest on the average loan over a ten year repayment minus the average of grants and scholarships per student.
We then contrast this figure with average early-career and mid-career average incomes of graduates of four year programs at University of Kentucky. For graduates of University of Kentucky, we saw an average early-career income of $56000.00 and mid-career income of $100000.00. We then ranked the school's value based on how many years of mid-career income it takes to repay the educational costs.