The Success Rates report shows the number of degree-seeking students who enter a Michigan postsecondary community college or public university and achieve a successful outcome. This report includes data for Michigan’s 28 community colleges and 15 public universities, along with aggregate metrics for the community college and public university sectors broken out by race/ethnicity and gender.

These rates capture both part- and full-time enrollment for all degree-seeking students as well as mobility between institutions. Achievement of a certificate, an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree or, for community colleges, a transfer to a university are all considered successes.

The Success Rates report offers the ability for quick comparisons between statewide sector and individual community college and university metrics. For a richer level of reporting, please review the Success Rates Data Files.

Historical Changes

Beginning with 2015-16, early summer enrollment is included in the prior school year cohort. For example, early summer 2014 data would have been included in the 2014-15 cohort, but early summer 2016 data would be included in the cohort of school year 2015-16.

Starting with academic year 2018-19, data for colleges and universities that submit full transcript data to CEPI are no longer supplemented with data from the National Student Clearinghouse. Since this may cause differences in the data before and after the change, trend lines in the report were broken between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The cohort year is the initial school year a student enters a Michigan public postsecondary institution, or when a high school student participating in an Early/Middle College program begins their fourth year. Cohorts for institutions are adjusted for students who transfer in and out of that institution.

For each cohort of students, outcomes are measured at the end of each year beginning with year two for community colleges and year four for public universities. The award cutoff date for both community colleges and universities is August 31.

• For community college cohorts, outcomes are reported at the end of the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth rate year after initially entering the cohort.
• For public university cohorts, outcomes are reported at the end of the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth year after initially entering the cohort.
• Student outcomes are categorized as Successes and Continuing.

For more information on how the success rates are calculated, please consult Understanding Michigan's Postsecondary Success Rates.

Report Labels

Year Entering Higher Education: Also known as the Cohort Year. The initial school year a student enters a Michigan public sector community college or university as an undergraduate, or when a high school student participating in an Early/Middle College begins their fourth year of high school while enrolled at a college or university.

Enrollment Year: The postsecondary school year that metrics are measured at the end of. Also called “rate year."

Adjusted Cohort: The number of degree-seeking students, including those who have transitioned into the selected location and excluding those who have transitioned out of the selected location.

Success: Success is defined as earning a certificate, an associate degree or a bachelor degree. For community colleges, success also includes transitioning into a 4-year university.

Success Rate: Successes ÷ Adjusted Cohort.

Cumulative Success: Horizontal bar graph shows the cumulative success rate by cohort year. Note that more more recent cohort years will be updated up until 6 years after for community colleges and 8 years after for universities. 

Success Year by Year: Trend lines that show the change in the success rate across cohort years.

Data Collection

The National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) collected the data used to complete this report. The databases used include:

• CEPI's Michigan Student Data System (MSDS), to locate the student's high school building, district and intermediate school district as well as high school graduation year and demographics. For details on the data definitions and how the data are collected, refer to the MSDS Collection Details Manual.
• Student Transcript and Academic Record Repository (STARR), which is a collection within MSDS, to locate enrollment in a Michigan public community college or university. For details on the data definitions and how the data are collected, refer to the STARR Data Collection Manual.
• The NSC StudentTracker database to locate enrollment from out-of-state or non-STARR participating colleges or universities. For a list of all colleges and universities that CEPI has available in its postsecondary data system, refer to the Postsecondary Entity List.