Dan Onorato, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, plans today to unveil a multi-faceted strategy to boost the state's college graduation rate and to better utilize Pennsylvania's campuses to create jobs and spur research.

Mr. Onorato, Allegheny County executive, is due at the Community College of Allegheny County at 10:30 a.m. to release a policy paper touching on areas from tuition affordability and adult learning incentives to encouraging more graduates to pursue careers in high-demand areas of science, technology, engineering and math.

"Unlocking the job creation potential of Pennsylvania's colleges and universities in high-tech and emerging fields is essential to keeping our most talented graduates in-state and to increasing Pennsylvania's overall competitiveness," Mr. Onorato's 11-page policy paper states.

His goals include increasing the number of degrees awarded statewide by 25,700, or 6 percent, over the next four years, as part of a strategy to better position Pennsylvanians to compete for high-paying jobs, his paper states.

College has never been so critical to families' financial security, and Pennsylvania benefits from one of the nation's largest arrays of colleges and universities, Mr. Onorato said. But he noted that less than half of ninth-graders in the state enroll in college by 19, and those who do face some of the nation's highest tuitions.

To lessen those burdens in a state whose degree completion rate lags the national average and that of neighboring states, Mr. Onorato advocates increasing support for the state's grant program so that within four years, the maximum Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency award - now $4,120 - would fully cover tuition at the 14 state-owned universities for Pennsylvania's neediest families.

Families' right to apply PHEAA aid to public and private campuses as they choose would be preserved, his paper says. Base in-state tuition at the state-owned universities is $5,554 a year.

Mr. Onorato also advocates incentives to encourage adult education such as credit for applied learning. He also proposes to better align financial aid programs to the needs of adult learners.

To encourage research, Mr. Onorato proposes the creation of two $25 million-per-year competitive funding pools of state money - one to match federal research grants, and the other matching industry research support.

To encourage entrepreneurship and university-based startups, Mr. Onorato's paper calls for establishment of the "Pennsylvania 100," a program aimed at identifying the 100 most promising researchers in the state and connecting them with people who can help them commercialize their work.

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