In this article, the author shares how he was inspired to advance the cause of college completion in Maryland as he recently received the Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award with $500,000 as award money. He shares how he intended to make use of the award money and mentions that it is in the spirit of making a positive difference that he and the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents decided to leverage the $500,000 Carnegie Leadership Award. They are hoping to raise an additional $2.5 million to add to the $500,000 Carnegie award, bringing their total to $3 million for the launch of the "A Matter of Degrees: USM Leading the Way in College Completion" initiative, which was formally announced on January 30, 2010. Through this program, they intend to create a familiarity with the path to college for students, especially low-income and under-represented minority students, many of whom will be the first in their families to go to college. The University System of Maryland intends to be a model for the state and the US as the nation strives to reach this challenging goal in the coming decade. The author concludes that this one effort will not reverse the troubling trends in higher education participation and completion in Maryland, let alone nationwide. But it has the potential to make a real and meaningful difference which the author is pleased to dedicate his award money to it.