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Michigan’s Office of Higher Education will host a virtual summit at 2 p.m. Eastern time, Friday, Oct. 2, to review research priorities as the state tries to have 60% of working-age adults earn a postsecondary credential or skills certificate by 2030.
According to the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, the state has made progress toward Sixty by 30 through investments in financial aid and student success.
More than $740 million in Michigan Achievement Scholarships has supported over 110,000 students since 2023, while the share of undergraduates receiving state-funded aid has more than doubled -- from 13.4% to 28.4%, MiLEAP reports.
Meanwhile, Michigan Reconnect has helped 94,000 adult learners return to education and pursue new career pathways, and 44 of Michigan's 46 public and Tribal colleges have received Student Success Grants to improve graduation rates.
The new research priorities span a number of issues, such as how financial aid reaches students and what keeps eligible Michiganders from enrolling. Also under study are the factors that affect whether students earn a credential and benefit from their education.
"Michigan's higher education system is complex, and the questions facing students and institutions are complex, too," said Sarah Szurpicki, deputy director of MiLEAP's Office of Higher Education. "By identifying shared research priorities, we can help bring greater focus to the work happening across Michigan and encourage research that produces actionable insights for students, institutions and policymakers."
Here is an outline of OHE's research priorities
-- Financial Aid Design: Whether Michigan's aid programs are structured to reach the students who need them most, and what remains unaffordable after tuition is covered.
-- Outreach, Access and Re-engagement: Why eligible Michiganders do not enroll and what can bring back the roughly one million adults who left college without a credential.
-- Academic Pathways and Credential Design: How developmental education reform, guided pathways and credit for prior learning affect whether students complete their programs and whether required courses are available when students need them.
-- Pedagogy, Advising and Student Experience: What happens in classrooms and advising offices, including how colleges are using artificial intelligence in instruction and student services.
-- Basic Needs and Student Wellbeing: How housing, food, childcare, transportation and mental health shape whether students can turn access to tuition into a completed credential.
-- Institutional Coordination, Student Mobility and Credit Portability: Whether Michigan's transfer infrastructure is delivering for students and how the state can build greater coherence across autonomous institutions.
-- Career Alignment, Exposure and Navigation: Who has access to internships, apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities and who faces barriers to participating.
-- Workforce Alignment, Graduate Retention and Regional Economic Impact: Whether Michigan is producing the credentials its economy needs and whether graduates remain in the state.
-- Institutional Responsiveness in an Evolving World: How colleges are adapting to demographic changes, federal policy shifts and AI-driven changes in the workforce.
-- Measuring Progress and Defining Credential Value: Whether Michigan is on track to reach Sixty by 30 and whether the credentials counted toward that goal are delivering meaningful economic value.
The Oct. 2 summit will feature presentations from research teams working with OHE on projects aligned with the state's postsecondary attainment goals. Researchers, institutional leaders, partners and others interested in advancing Michigan's higher education priorities are invited to attend.
Registration is open for the summit at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PwQOF3BXTbup2MZiFLTwKw#/registration. Participants will receive a Zoom link the week before the event.
The full OHE Research Priorities document can be found at https://www.michigan.gov/mileap/higher-education/data-sharing-center/ohe-research-priorities.