The Arizona Board of Regents is receiving a $1.1 million grant from the Helios Education Foundation for new efforts to encourage thousands of Arizonans to return to college to complete their degrees.

ABOR, the governing body serving Arizona’s three state universities, will use the funding on projects to lower barriers to have people reenroll and earn degrees. Officials believe there may be nearly 770,000 Arizona students who left college without earning a degree.

Each university — Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona — would tailor their own programs using best practices from around the state, officials said.

“By providing more resources and developing more accessible pathways to re-enter our institutions, we can help rekindle the dream of earning a degree and achieving career goals,” said ABOR Chair Cecilia Mata in a press release. “This grant from Helios Education Foundation is a significant investment in Arizona’s economic future, and we’re proud to have our public universities leading this effort.”

Getting more students to earn degrees is important as it is estimated by 2030, nearly 67% of jobs in Arizona will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school. Despite workforce needs, less than half of working-age adults in Arizona have completed a postsecondary degree or certificate, according to the Arizona Education Progress Meter.

If the current attainment rate remains stagnant, the state could face a shortage of more than 26,000 unfilled quality jobs, officials said. Additionally, individuals who earn postsecondary credentials benefit from greater lifetime earnings, increased economic opportunities and improved health and well-being.

“The AZ Comeback Initiative represents a bold, collaborative effort to re-engage thousands of Arizonans who have made progress toward a degree but haven’t yet crossed the finish line,” said Paul J. Luna, president and chief executive officer of Helios Education Foundation. “By investing in this initiative, we’re not only supporting individuals in reaching their goals, but also helping to build a stronger, more prosperous Arizona for everyone.”

The initiative will track metrics, including direct student and educator participant numbers, geographic data and success stories as well as have quarterly meetings among the teams on programs for outreach and reenrollment efforts.

WestEd, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research, development and service organization focused on improving learning, will partner with ABOR in a consultant role to record and develop strategies to continue the program and encourage adoption of the best programs.

The state’s universities have held programs such as this in the past and will lean on those to expand the efforts. Officials said. Those programs are:

• ASU will build on the success of its “Project Start Back” and “Project Finish Now” communication programs in a combined effort.

• NAU will enhance the Jacks on Track initiative. The initiative now will offer an upfront, guaranteed financial incentive to a select portion of Lumberjacks who have not yet completed their degrees. Students reenrolling through the Jacks of Track program will also benefit from a Success Coach, individualized support and tutoring resources.

• UofA will draw from its Back2UA program, which enables students who left the institution in good academic standing to return seamlessly with no application fee or administrative barriers. Additionally, U of A plans to incorporate insights from ASU and NAU’s successful programs to develop the first iteration of a centralized re-engagement pilot.

“We believe in the power of our state’s public universities joining forces to re-engage Arizonans to complete their degrees,” said Roxanne Murphy, ABOR director of postsecondary attainment, who leads statewide efforts to increase degree completion and will serve as the grant’s lead facilitator.