Nicholas County High School
Carlisle · KY · Nicholas County · Public · K-12 combined
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Montgomery County Area Technology Center → Carter G. Woodson Academy → Mason County Career Magnet School → Clark County Area Technology Center → The Hub for Innovation and Leadership → Elkhorn Crossing School → Morehead Transition Academy → Southside Technical Center →📋 At a glance
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 25% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 51th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 92% (60th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Nicholas County High School compares for families
What families should know about Nicholas County High School.
- ▸ LocallyKY sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Montgomery County Area Technology Center, Carter G. Woodson Academy, Mason County Career Magnet School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
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Get an email when Nicholas County High School's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-2151th percentile by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
60th percentile nationally
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
🏛️ Federal Title I context
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program
40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.
🏛️ Your state's public flagship
University of Kentucky
The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $18,851/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
💰 Pay for college in Kentucky
Kentucky's public scholarships
Kentucky's KEES award is unusual: you bank money every year you keep your grades up, then add a one-time test bonus. No income limit on the base or test award.
Kentucky banks a scholarship for each year you keep a 2.5+ GPA — bigger for higher GPAs — plus a one-time ACT/SAT bonus. (Free/reduced-lunch students can add AP/IB supplements.)
Official program details ↗Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -2.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 435 students:
≈ 54 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue at risk
At $14,085 per student in district revenue, the 54 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $760,590/year in funding at risk.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery County Area Technology Center Mt Sterling |
Public | 19.6 | — | — |
| Carter G. Woodson Academy Lexington |
Public | 28.9 | 156 | +20.0% |
| Mason County Career Magnet School Maysville |
Public | 25.6 | — | — |
| Clark County Area Technology Center Winchester |
Public | 26.4 | — | — |
| The Hub for Innovation and Leadership Lexington |
Public | 31.0 | — | — |
| Elkhorn Crossing School Georgetown |
Public | 31.4 | — | — |
| Morehead Transition Academy Morehead |
Public | 31.5 | — | — |
| Southside Technical Center Lexington |
Public | 33.4 | — | — |