Between 2009 and 2013, 61 colleges in nine states (Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, and Wisconsin) joined together for Project Win-Win. Their mission: locate former students, no longer enrolled anywhere and never awarded a degree, whose records qualified them for associate’s degrees, and award those degrees retroactively. This effort also identified former students who were no more than nine to 12 credits short of an associate’s degree and sought to find and bring them back to college to complete the degree.

As of August 2013, 60 of the 61 Project Win-Win participants had identified nearly 130,000 students who met the initial criteria, completing degree audits for the nearly 42,000 students remaining after removing those who reenrolled or earned degrees elsewhere. More than 6,700 students emerged eligible for the retroactive award of the associate’s degree, and more than 4,500 have received degrees to date. Of more than 20,000 students identified with fewer than 12 credits to completion, almost 1,700 have returned to college and another 400 have signaled their intent to return. For more information about the project, participating institutions, and the results, see Project Win-Win at the Finish Line.