College completion is the best pathway to success for our citizens and their families and is a serious issue for our region, our state and our country.

Leaders from workforce development and educational organizations have come together to pilot the College Completion Counts conference on Dec. 1 to remove the barriers that may have prevented students from completing college in the past.

In Indiana, more than 740,000 Hoosiers have some college and no degree. In northeast Indiana, the average employee in 2009 earned only 77.4 percent of the U.S. average annual wage.

This is exactly why the region has adopted the Vision 2020 priority that we call The Big Goal – increasing the proportion of college graduates to 60 percent by the year 2025 – to once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

If we are to improve the standard of living in northeast Indiana and make the shift to a knowledge-based economy, college completion counts.

College completion counts for our region, our state and our country. But it counts most for those who have successfully returned to college and earned their degree.

Workers with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $20,000 more per year than those with a high school diploma.

As part of the College Completion Counts conference, participants will have the opportunity to hear firsthand from adults who have successfully returned to college and earned their degree.

I invite any northeast Indiana citizen to attend or invite those you know who are considering a return to college.

We’re doing our best to raise the importance of education as it relates to the future of northeast Indiana. It’s just a matter of each person taking that next step toward a college degree.

Participants will learn about resources that will help them complete college, ask questions of and hear firsthand from graduates who successfully returned and earned a degree and have an opportunity to meet individuals from northeast Indiana’s educational institutions.

Informational topics include financial aid and planning, back-to-school preparation, job searching for the 21st century, and time management and life balance.

Organizations involved include Talent Initiative & Vision 2020/Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, Northeast Indiana Regional Workforce Investment Board, Col- legeChoice 529 Direct Savings Plan, WGU, Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast, IPFW, Grace College, Trine University, University of Saint Francis and Manchester University.