More Michigan students who start a post-secondary degree or certificate are finishing within eight years, according to new state data released this week.
The data is split up into charts for community colleges, public universities, and private four-year institutions. The numbers break down into completion rates for every step between two and eight years, depending on the type of school.
With the exception of private schools, which have the least available data, completion rates have risen at every level across the last decade. That’s despite some occasional year-over-year dips.
The four-year rate saw among the biggest increases, going up 15 percentage points from a decade prior to 60.6% for the cohort starting in the 2020-2021 school year.
Dan Hurley is CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities. He said schools got that number up by focusing on student retention.
“They’re focused on internships and other off campus activities to engage students, to get them excited for the occupations that they’re training for. They have also redoubled efforts, resources, staffing around student supports, all types of student support,” Hurley said.
Significant ethnic and racial disparities remain, however.
At public universities, white students were finishing within four years at a rate of about 62.9%. Asian students led the demographics at 74.4%. Around 54.3% of Hispanic students were getting their degrees within four years.
But only 38.1% of Black students and 43.5% of Indigenous students were doing the same.
Hurley recognized the racial disparity continues, though he said schools are making progress.
“As we’ve seen, even though the numbers are lower for some populations, there has been gradual increases over the years and the institutional efforts to improve upon that will continue,” Hurley said.
At the federal level, schools have faced significant pressure to scale back or end their efforts that often serve students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. The University of Michigan, for example, closed its inclusion office in March.
Hurley said one of the biggest factors challenging public universities, though, is uncertainty around federal and state funding.
“Fourteen of our 15 institutions have a new fiscal year under way as of July 1, and yet no state budget. So, it’s hard to predict that, and how do we set tuition rates when the other primary revenue stream’s not known?” he said.
State lawmakers won’t be back until July 15 at the earliest to continue working on a new budget.
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