Attainment

Equipping more Ohioans with college-level credentials

Today Ohio faces a shortage of adults with college-level knowledge and skills needed to fill the majority of current and future jobs. By 2016, only 44.1% percent of working-age Ohioans had earned postsecondary credentials. In response, Ohio has established a statewide Attainment Goal:

“By 2025, 65 percent of working-age adults in Ohio will have a degree, certificate or other credential of value in the marketplace.”

What are Ohio’s public universities doing to improve degree attainment?

To achieve the Ohio Attainment Goal 2025, an additional 1.3 million Ohioans will need to achieve postsecondary credentials.

Recognizing the need to quickly and substantially increase college completion rates, Ohio’s public universities have launched a number of initiatives designed to enhance student retention and degree completion – such as efficiency reviews, cost reductions, college completion plans and more.

These initiatives and many others are enhancing our ability to support student success, increase degree completion, reduce student debt and more effectively connect degree holders to successful careers.

The challenge is substantial. But together we’re making progress. The number of degrees awarded in Ohio has increased by 17,934 (20 percent) between 2011 and 2016.

Continued progress on raising education attainment levels and creating economic opportunity for university graduates will require an ongoing partnership with state officials to enhance investments in, and support for, higher education.