Investment helps 958 transfer students get degrees

Since 2018, Central Michigan University has helped community colleges and other schools award 958 associate degrees through a strategic investment aimed at helping people receive credentials they earned during their bachelor’s degree journey.

Money from the state of Michigan will assist most of Michigan’s other public universities follow CMU’s leadership.

CMU was already one of two Michigan public universities helping community colleges track transfer student progress so they could connect them to associate degrees they earned while pursuing a bachelor’s degree, said Keith Malkowski, CMU’s registrar.

What set CMU apart from the other was that it connected to 2,200 schools through the National Student Clearinghouse, the same online database that Michigan’s other public universities will connect to, he said.

The move will help Michigan attain its goal of having 60 percent of its adults hold some kind of post-high school credential by 2030, he said. That will help the state market itself to companies looking to locate in places with educated workforces.

“It’s great to see our peers coming on board,” he said. While the state is helping other public universities connect to the clearinghouse, CMU invested its own resources in 2018 to connect.

CMU has helped 27 schools issue degrees to transfer students through the clearinghouse since 2018, he said. A total of 23,099 students around the country have transferred credits through it.

Participating universities upload student information to the clearinghouse, he said. Community colleges and other schools access that data and compare it to students who have transferred from them to participating universities.

When they find students who’ve successfully fulfilled degree requirements, they contact them and help them obtain credentials for which they are qualified, he said. It provides a big benefit to transfer students.

“It really tries to help students maximize time and effort in getting their credentials,” Malkowski said. An associate’s degree can help a transfer student get a better-paying job while pursuing their bachelor’s, for example.

Some of the students who benefit the most are those who started college with a specific career in mind but who wanted to get some of their general education requirements out of the way at a community college, he said.

Those students transfer to CMU and other four-year universities and often complete associate’s degree requirements without knowing they had earned one, he said.

A similar effort will help connect Michigan’s community colleges to the clearinghouse.