September 04, 2026
LANSING, Mich. – Michigan is taking another step toward making transfer between Michigan colleges and universities work better for students by deepening its understanding of the state’s transfer landscape and identifying opportunities to strengthen pathways to degree completion.
The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) Office of Higher Education (OHE) today released its Michigan Transfer Landscape Analysis Report, a series of six briefs examining how students move through Michigan’s higher education system, where transfer pathways are working and where barriers remain. OHE also invested $212,313 in three new research projects focused on improving transfer pathway design, understanding the transfer student experience and measuring the economic impact of stronger transfer outcomes.
“For tens of thousands of Michigan students, transferring between community colleges and universities is an important part of their journey toward a degree,” said Sarah Szurpicki, deputy director of MiLEAP’s Office of Higher Education. “We have a responsibility to ensure that students can transfer their credits and navigate their pathways without unnecessary barriers and make progress toward their goals.”
The Michigan Transfer Landscape Analysis Report provides a comprehensive look at Michigan’s transfer ecosystem, drawing on statewide and national data and perspectives from more than 100 transfer stakeholders. The six briefs examine the history of transfer in Michigan, stakeholder perspectives on the current system, transfer student experiences and outcomes, enrollment and mobility patterns and academic pathways connected to longer-term educational and workforce outcomes.
The analysis also reveals challenges in student completion and credit accumulation. Among community college transfer students in OHE’s analytic sample, 38.6% had not earned a degree within six years of starting at a community college, while 26.2% earned a bachelor’s degree, 18.1% earned an associate degree and only 17.2% earned both an associate and bachelor’s degree. Students who earned both degrees accumulated an average of 133.2 credits—more than 13 credits above the typical 120-credit hour minimum required for a bachelor’s degree.
Together, the findings provide a clearer picture of how students move through Michigan’s transfer system and where opportunities exist to reduce barriers, strengthen institutional partnerships and create more efficient pathways to completion.
As part of its broader Transfer Success Project, OHE also recently invested $212,313 across three research projects through its Michigan Transfer Success Research grants. The projects were selected from a competitive pool of proposals received last spring to deepen understanding of key challenges and opportunities within Michigan’s transfer system and generate evidence that can inform improvements to transfer policy and practice statewide.
"For too long, gaps in our understanding have limited our ability to better serve transfer students in Michigan,” said Dr. Katie Giardello, Transfer Success Project Manager at MiLEAP’s Office of Higher Education. “These three research projects gives us a clearer picture of the factors shaping transfer experiences and student success. By building a stronger evidence base, this work can help identify where changes in policy and practice can make the greatest difference for transfer students across the state.”
Research projects will examine transfer from multiple perspectives
The three funded projects examine Michigan’s transfer systems from complementary perspectives—looking at how pathways are designed, how students experience transfer and what stronger transfer outcomes could mean for Michigan’s economy.
Grantee: University of Michigan
Project Title: Curricular Complexity and Pathway Design in Michigan’s Community College Transfer Programs
The University of Michigan project will analyze student course-taking patterns across Michigan’s 10 MiTransfer Pathways, examining how course sequences, co-enrollment and other elements of pathway design relate to student progress. Researchers will pair this analysis with perspectives from students, instructors and academic leaders to provide a fuller picture of how transfer pathways function in practice.
“Our project will help Michigan community colleges identify course-taking patterns that can slow students’ progress toward a degree and better understand how those pathways can be improved,” said Dr. Michael Brown, associate professor at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education “By bringing together course-taking data with the perspectives of students and instructors, we hope to help inform more efficient transfer pathways and support stronger degree attainment outcomes.
Grantee: Oakland University
Project Title: Transfer Student Success Pathway: From Admission to Graduation — A Mixed Methods Approach
The Oakland University project will use a mixed-methods approach to examine transfer students’ experiences from admission through graduation. Researchers will combine quantitative measures and predictive analytics with qualitative insights from students to examine patterns in retention, completion, academic behavior and engagement across student populations.
"Oakland University is excited to partner with MiLEAP on research focused on the transfer student experience and to share our findings and resources with the Michigan higher education community,” said Dr. Song Yan, associate vice president for Institutional Research, Assessment, and Data Analytics at Oakland University. “This research study utilizes quantitative metrics and predictive analytics to build upon insights gained from students themselves. Our goal is to identify common barriers across regional institutions and guide transfer student programming that improves transfer outcomes statewide."
Grantee: Ithaka S+R
Project Title: Translating Transfer Success into Economic Returns: A Michigan Impact Model
Ithaka S+R will develop a Michigan-specific economic impact model that connects changes in transfer outcomes to potential economic effects for students, institutions and the state. Drawing on Michigan transfer and outcomes data, existing research and a structured literature review, the model will allow policymakers to examine how changes in transfer volume, bachelor’s degree completion, credit accumulation and time to degree could translate into economic returns.
“Improving transfer pathways for Michigan students will increase bachelor’s degree completion, expand workforce opportunity for students and strengthen Michigan’s economy,” said Dr. Elizabeth Pisacreta, senior director and head of strategy at Ithaka S+R. “We’re excited to extend our research on credit mobility, transfer and the value of postsecondary education to help state leaders understand the potential impact of better transfer outcomes and translate those gains into economic returns for students, institutions and the state.”
The three projects approach transfer from different angles but share a common goal: generating new insight that can help Michigan better understand what students need to successfully navigate transfer and complete their degrees.
These projects will be featured during a virtual research summit hosted by OHE on October 2 at 2 p.m. The summit will introduce OHE’s research priorities in greater detail and provide an opportunity for these transfer research grant teams to share an overview of their projects.
Registration is now open for the virtual OHE Research Summit. Register here to attend on October 2 at 2 p.m. Registered participants will receive a Zoom link the week before the event.
The 2026 Michigan Transfer Landscape Analysis and individual briefs are available through MiLEAP’s Transfer Success Project webpage.
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About MiLEAP:
Established by Governor Whitmer in 2023, MiLEAP’s mission is to improve outcomes from birth to postsecondary so anyone can ‘make it in Michigan’ with a solid education and a path to a good-paying job. To learn more about MiLEAP, go to Michigan.gov/MiLEAP.
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