Arizona Board of Regents receives nearly $4 million FIPSE grant to expand AZ Comeback Initiative

The Arizona Board of Regents has been awarded a $3.97 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to expand the AZ Comeback Initiative. The initiative, led by the board, is a statewide partnership with Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona that helps Arizonans with some college credit return to school and complete their degrees.  

The award is one of nine awarded through the Department of Education’s Postsecondary Student Success Grant program, which aims to increase postsecondary completion rates for underserved students. Through the grant, Arizona's public universities will use data-driven strategies to help more returning learners earn credentials that support economic mobility and workforce success.

The work focuses on adult learners who are close to the finish line, having already earned 60 to 89 credit hours toward an undergraduate degree. Currently, in Arizona more than 726,000 Arizonans who have made progress toward a college degree but left before earning a credential.  Working together through a shared, career-connected coaching model, the three universities will expand structured support from reenrollment through graduation.

"Life doesn't always follow a straight line. Many Arizonans stepped away from college to care for family, support themselves or manage the cost of school, not because they lacked the drive to finish,” said ABOR Chair Doug Goodyear. “They've already done much of the hard work, and we owe it to them to make the path back as clear as possible so they can earn a degree."

Supported by the grant, the board will coordinate the new reentry coaching model across the three universities, ensuring that returning students receive consistent, career-focused support. WestEd will conduct an independent evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the model.

The award more than triples the initial investment that launched the initiative last year. A $1.1 million grant from Helios Education Foundation helped launch the AZ Comeback Initiative last year and funded pilots at each university to test approaches for reengaging adult learners. 

“A college degree remains one of the strongest pathways to economic mobility and long-term career success,” said Paul J. Luna, president and chief executive officer of Helios Education Foundation. “For students who have already made significant progress toward a credential, completion can open doors and help them realize the full value of their educational investment.”

Helping these Arizonans finish also matters for the state's economy. An upcoming report from Rounds Consulting Group, "The Education Dividend: Closing Arizona's talent gap to strengthen economic competitiveness," projects that Arizona employers will need an average of 128,400 credentialed workers a year through 2034. The state's colleges, universities and training programs currently produce only about 80,100. Even with in-migration, Arizona faces a projected shortfall of more than 10,000 credentialed workers a year, including about 7,500 with bachelor's degrees. Adult learners who are close to a degree can help fill that gap. Graduates also earn more over their lifetimes, have greater economic opportunity and enjoy better health and well-being.

Employers continue to value degrees, even as artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace. In a recent Lumina Foundation-Gallup survey, 80% of employers prefer to hire candidates with a college degree, whether or not the role requires one, and 68% prefer candidates with at least a bachelor’s degree. Even as artificial intelligence changes the workplace, three in four employers say a degree will be as important as it is today, or more so.

Helios Education Foundation and Education Forward Arizona's recent Billions in the Balance research also underscores what's at stake: helping more Arizonans earn degrees and credentials could generate billions in economic gains. For the 2026 high school cohort alone, reaching the state's 60% postsecondary attainment goal would generate more than $11 billion in estimated lifetime economic benefits.

The grant builds on the comeback projects each university piloted during through the initiative.

Demand to return is at a historic high at ASU, which reported that a record 10,733 students came back last year after stepping away from their studies for at least one semester. Through Operation Comeback, reentry specialists give former students personalized help. They review each student’s degree progress and transferable credits, look at past-due balances and talk through career goals, which helps find the most direct route to graduation. The program includes per-credit tuition scholarships for returning students in campus-based and online programs. More than 600 former Sun Devils returned through the earlier Operation Comeback pilot.

NAU's Jacks on Track program supports former students who have accumulated 90 or more credits but left the university before completing their degree. Returning students are paired with advisers who review previously earned credits, identify remaining degree requirements and develop an individualized academic completion plan. Participants also receive success coaching and connections to financial assistance and university resources designed to help them persist to graduation. As part of NAU's initial AZ Comeback efforts, the university provided a guaranteed $500 financial incentive to a select group of returning students, enabling NAU to examine how upfront financial support influences re-enrollment, persistence and degree completion.

At the U of A, the Arizona Comeback program is creating a more centralized approach to reconnecting with former students. Building on existing reengagement efforts, including Back2UA, the initiative identifies students who may be ready to return and provides streamlined pathways back to enrollment through either the Tucson campus or Arizona Online. Returning students receive academic, financial and advising support designed to help them resume progress toward a credential.

“For Arizona, the opportunity of degree completion is significant. Hundreds of thousands of residents have already invested time and effort toward a college credential,” said ABOR Executive Director Chad Sampson. “It is a great privilege to have been awarded this grant so we can further advance the work of the AZ Comeback Initiative and help meet Arizona's growing demand for talent.”

Arizonans interested in returning to college can learn more about the AZ Comeback Initiative here.