Ohioans with a college degree are less likely to be unemployed and more likely to earn higher wages — but too many people who enter the state’s institutions of higher education drop out without a credential that could connect them with a job.

Ohio’s college leaders are working to change that with a Complete College Ohio plan they hope will help more students stay on track to graduate. Some of the 20 ideas in the draft report, which was presented at Sinclair Community College on Tuesday, include redesigning the way remedial courses are offered, locking in the price of tuition during a student’s four years, and making students more aware of academic programs and how they connect with careers. The final report will be presented to the Ohio Board of Regents on Nov. 13 in Columbus.

It is a plan important to the economic future of the state, said Ohio Chancellor Jim Petro, who charged the task force.

“We are under-educated as a state. We have too few people with advanced degrees. If we intend to advance in any measure at all, we need to do something about college completion,” Petro said.

Currently, more than half the people who enter college in Ohio do not graduate, and they’re often left with high levels of debt. “That really becomes a huge waste of money. You can’t put five semesters of college on a resume. That means nothing,” Petro said.

About 36 percent of Ohioans have a college degree, but about 57 percent of the new jobs that will become open through 2018 will require that education, according to the Lumina Foundation, which is committed to graduating more students from college.

Ohio’s colleges have long been focused on access instead of retaining or graduating students, Petro said. Of every 35 students who enter a two-year school full-time, just one will graduate on time. For 49 students at a university, 15 earn a degree in four years, according to Complete College America, a nonprofit created to increase the number of Americans with a college credential.

“We know that our students wander into our college, some of them wander around for a while and then they wander out… without a degree,” said Sinclair Community College President Steven Johnson.

The Complete College Ohio report addresses the issue on multiple fronts, from ensuring the success of students during their first year of college to rewarding students for staying on track.

“Where completion is concerned, there is no such thing as a silver bullet,” said Brett Visger, deputy chancellor for institutional collaboration for the Ohio Board of Regents. “There are lots of different areas that are going to require work.”

College leaders have been developing the ideas since the summer, but during the meeting Tuesday, some questioned whether the effort will require more financial resources at each college and whether the state will offer any additional money. Petro said individual colleges and universities will be required by the next state budget to develop their own plans to improve completion rates based on the recommendations from his report, and they can request more money from the state to support those efforts in the future.

Complete College Ohio is among several state and national initiatives aimed at improving graduation rates. Sinclair is leading the work in Ohio for Completion By Design, a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Johnson is leading a national effort to redesign the way community colleges operate. And Ohio Gov. John Kasich has called on college presidents to redesign the ways schools are funded to focus on graduation instead of enrollment, and that report is due by Thanksgiving. The state also has already made changes to funding for remedial education to encourage universities to stop offering the courses so students who need the extra help begin at a community college.