strategies

15 to Finish is a Complete College Georgia initiative that emphasizes the fact that students need to take 15 (or more) credits per semester to finish degrees “on time.” “On time” means associate degrees are completed in two years and bachelor’s degrees are completed in four years. 

Degree completion is important because students with bachelor’s degrees can expect to earn 84% more over a lifetime than students without bachelor’s degrees.  Students with “some college, no degree” do not enjoy this advantage and may have incurred substantial educational debt with little or no increased earning power.

Georgia State University's Panther Retention Grants were the focus of a recent profile from Georgia Public Broadcasting.  The article, which highlights the impact a relatively small sum of money can have on completion, provides further testimony to the effectiveness of this strategy.

Within the USG, it is common for students to transfer out of associate degree institutions prior to completing the requirements for the degree. In some cases, students will be successful in earning bachelor's degrees. In many cases, however, students will not complete their bachelor’s degrees, and will become part of the group of adults with "some college, no degree," even though they may have met the requirements for associate degrees.

"Go Back. Move Ahead" is a part of Governor Nathan Deal's Complete College Georgia initiative, which launched in 2011.

Gov. Deal and higher education administrators recognize that the state must do more to make it easier for Georgia adults to return to school and complete their degrees. This group includes approximately 1.1 million working-age adults, or 22 percent of the state's population, who attended college for some time but did not finish.

Guided Pathways to Success is an initiative of Complete College America to ensure that students receive guidance to complete degree programs efficiently, without taking excessive courses that will not count toward degrees. Overall, the goal is to increase guidance to students by providing clear degree roadmaps and intrusive advising to keep them on the path to a degree. Guided Pathways to Success moves away from offering students a "menu" of options that can lead to excessive credit accrual and no clear path to a degree.