"Across all three focus groups, students described finding their way to transfer through a sibling who'd done it, a friend already enrolled or one instructor who happened to mention the right thing at the right moment. What this tells me is that so much of our outreach is informal and inconsistent. If students need a relative, a friend or an especially good staff member just to get basic clarity, that's a design problem-not a student problem."
Michigan maintains an established transfer infrastructure including the Michigan Transfer Agreement, MiTransfer Pathways, and a statewide transfer network. However, the system operates unevenly across students. In March 2026, MiLEAP convened 16 current and recently transferred students to examine the transfer experience. Students reported that successful navigation depends heavily on informal factors: knowing a sibling who transferred, having a friend already enrolled, or encountering an instructor who mentioned relevant information. This reliance on personal connections reveals a design problem rather than a student problem. The current system effectively serves only students with existing social capital, making luck a determining factor in transfer success rather than systematic institutional support.
#community-college-transfer #student-success #higher-education-policy #equity-and-access #institutional-design
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