South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Don Patterson of The Greensboro News & Record reports on efforts to boost the college attainment rates in the Greensboro metro area.

Research shows that for every 1  percent a region improves its attainment rate, its per capita income jumps $763.
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“It’s all about skills — who has them and who doesn’t,” said Dewayne Matthews , a vice president at the Lumina Foundation for Education  in Indianapolis. “A lot of people knew that skills mattered, but it was not something that people focused on.”
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Since the onset of the recession, that has changed.
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And now that focus has come to Guilford County.
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A group of UNCG  officials want to significantly boost the county’s college attainment level in the coming years, a move they believe will significantly help the area’s struggling economy.
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On Sept. 11 , they will call together 40 to 50  government, education and foundation leaders to look for ways to encourage people like Germino to go back to school and get their degrees.