Will tracking down students who’ve unknowingly earned an associates degree encourage them to continue their education? The University of Texas thinks so.

The Texas Tribune writes:

Program Aims to Give College Credit Where it’s Due

Across Texas, tens of thousands of students have earned enough college credit for an associate degree without knowing it. A new project led by the University of Texas at Austin hopes to track them down.

The program to be announced Tuesday, known as Reverse Transfer, will attempt to get those students their degrees — and maybe convince them to continue their schooling. If successful, there could be benefits for the students and the state, its creators say. And officials hope its use will extend beyond Texas.

“It’s a win-win-win solution all the way around,” said UT-Austin Registrar Shelby Stanfield, who led the initiative.

Students targeted by the program have often fallen through the cracks. Most started their academic careers enrolled in a junior or community college, then transferred to a four-year school with the goal of getting a bachelor’s degree. Then, many dropped out, had academic problems or put their educations on hold. Often, they completed enough coursework at their new school to transfer those credits back to their old school and collect a two-year degree. But that option never occurred to them.

Getting that degree would actually be easy. Course credits transfer both ways, so students would likely only have to fill out paperwork. But research shows that filling out that paperwork would increase their earning power, and make them more likely to complete their bachelor’s degree.