The Utah Women and Education Initiative was founded last week in a continuing effort by the state to help more women complete a college education.
The initiative was started to implement the ten key recommendations from the Utah Women’s College Task Force convened by Governor Gary Herbert last year.
Initiative director Mary Ann Holladay says many women in Utah have had difficulty finishing college.
"It seems like the education process for young women in Utah is many times interrupted - say, by things like getting married and having a family. And, for some reason, women tend not to go back and finish their college education once they've started it."
Holladay says it’s important to create a "college-going culture" for women.
"From a very young age we want to create a mental model that furthering one's education - whether at an associate's level, a bachelor's level, or higher - is just something that's good to do for lots of different reasons."