• by Danielle Oster , August 19, 2025

Ahead of back-to-school season, a long-running PSA campaign encouraging adults to finish their high school education is reaching a significant milestone.

Workers without a high school degree or equivalent earn significantly less than their peers. According to the most recently available census data from 2023, mean earnings increased by around $4,700 for adults 18 and older from 2020-2021 — but only $2,500 for those without a high school diploma or GED.

The “Finish Your Diploma” PSA campaign is celebrating its 15^th anniversary with this year’s campaign.

The national PSA campaign from the Ad Council and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF) first debuted back in 2010.

“When we first launched this campaign, over 35.7 million adults in the United States did not have a high school diploma,” Ad Council Chief Campaign Development Officer Heidi Arthur told Marketing Daily. “While progress has been made and over 2 million people have used our campaign resources to take steps towards finishing their high school diploma, the need for this campaign remains urgent.”

According to the Ad Council, since its inception the campaign has received $384 million in donated media support, driven 9.26 million visits to FinishYourDiploma.org, and connected some 2.18 million people to local education centers.

From 2012 to 2022, the high school completion rate for adults 25 and older rose across demographics, according to 2023 U.S. Census data. Yet around 30 million adults in the country still don’t have a high school degree or equivalent.

The latest installment in the “Finish Your Diploma” campaign was created in collaboration with creative agency Emotion Studios, Inc. The ad follows the story of Elizabeth, a school nurse who earned her high school diploma at the age of 38.

The PSA builds on the previously established “When You Graduate, They Graduate “ creative platform, which emphasizes family and community benefits from individuals earning their degree, ending with a call for audiences to visit FinishYourDiploma.org to find free local educational resources to complete their high school degree or equivalent. This year’s campaign is running on donated media across TV, digital, radio, social, print, and out-of-home channels.

The Ad Council and DGLF also collaborated with Green Buzz Agency on a video celebrating the 15^th anniversary of “Finish Your Diploma,” which highlights the media and creative partners who have been part of the campaign over the years.