By Trey Grayson
Guest columnist

If the cost of sending your kids to college seems to be spiraling out of your reach, you may not be alone. As tuition has increased at a rate greater than inflation over the past two decades, financial support for public higher education has not kept up.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Kentucky families view higher education costs as the primary obstacle to attending college.

There are a number of outstanding state programs that make the dream of a college education more affordable for Kentucky families. Programs such as Kentucky's Affordable Prepaid Tuition and the Kentucky Educational Savings Plan Trust allow families to save for tomorrow's tuition in an account free from federal or state taxes.

The Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship, the College Access Program and the Kentucky Tuition Grant provide needed money to aspiring college students, based on need, merit or both.

But as the governor and the General Assembly seek ways to balance our state budget, some families fear that the state's student grant and scholarship programs might not be funded sufficiently to enable them to afford higher education for their children.

We believe that the financial aid system in Kentucky needs to be re-evaluated. We have to find a way to ensure that every child in this state, no matter the family's income, can achieve the American dream, made so much easier by higher education.

That's why we crossed party lines to form the Cradle to College Commission.

The commission will examine a new financial aid proposal: Children born in Kentucky would be provided a college savings account on the day of their birth.

Ideally, the account would be funded so that families could afford a community or technical college education. Parents and grandparents could then supplement these funds by making monthly or lump-sum payments, to guarantee that tuition would be available at a four-year college.

There is an important catch. We believe in a hand up, not a hand out. With opportunity also comes responsibility. As a result, every high school senior who wishes to cash in his or her account to attend college must first provide a year of full-time community or military service in Kentucky.

Through their work, these young people will "pay back" the money the state has provided for their higher education. But more importantly, the community service experience will give these young people a greater sense of civic responsibility.

We will also look at ways to plug the "brain drain" that robs our commonwealth of so many of Kentucky's best and brightest young workers. We want to build in incentives for graduates who stay in Kentucky to pursue their careers, particularly those who pursue lower-paying but socially beneficial professions - such as teaching, law enforcement, social work and the military.

There are many open questions. For example, how do we identify the funding - whether public or private - to pay for the initiative without punishing the families whose children are currently anticipating KEES, CAP and KTG funding? And how do we identify or establish meaningful community service projects?

We don't have all the answers. And that is precisely the mission of the Cradle to College Commission. We will be asking our commissioners - who are experts in the fields of education, finance and service, as well as ordinary moms and dads - for their ideas to refine and improve this program. After months of research, study and discussion, we hope to present a plan that will benefit not only our young people, but also all of Kentucky.

Seemingly intractable problems like this require bipartisan cooperation and intense public involvement. We look forward to working with you to invest in the future of our children and our communities.

Your ideas, please

We need your help. If you have any ideas or suggestions about this project, please contact us via www.kytreasury.com or www.sos.ky.gov.

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Trey Grayson is Kentucky secretary of state and a Republican from Boone County. Jonathan Miller is Kentucky state treasurer and a Democrat from Lexington.