• Alumni Events: From ideas to applauses

• Basic to Bougie: Beyond the Thank You Letter

• Building Meaningful Connections Beyond Graduation: Strategies for Long-Term Alumni Engagement

• The Rise of Micro-Philanthropy: Engaging New Generations of Donors

• The Changing Face of Alumni: Engaging Millennials, Gen Z, and Non-Traditional Students

• Giving Days: Giving in the Digital Age, Increasing Participation and Retention

Registration is now open!

The Michigan Transfer Expansion Retreat 2.0 is the second statewide convening of community colleges and independent institutions focused on improving access and completion of bachelor’s degrees for transfer students from community colleges as part of a grant-funded project.  The retreat agenda includes several working sessions designed to help participants connect with regional partners to better serve transfer students, increase enrollment, and engage with partners.

The event will be held on Tuesday, July 23 at the University of Detroit Mercy in Detroit. Community colleges and independent institutions are encouraged to bring a team of 5-10 individuals who are engaged in serving transfer students and committed to improving the transfer student experience including transfer liaisons, student services staff (admissions, advisors, counselors, Deans/VPs), registrar office staff, faculty, academic leaders (department chairs, deans, VPs), and executive leadership.

Registration is at: https://www.mcca.org/Michigan-Expansion-Transfer-Retreat-2-Summer-2024

Join EdSights and MICU members—Aquinas College, Lawrence Technological University, and The University of Olivet—on Thursday, July 11th, at 1:00 PM, as they showcase their efforts to transform student success and retention outcomes using AI. This event will highlight how these institutions leverage EdSights conversational AI to amplify the Student Voice and provide tailored support.

Attendees will gain valuable insights into the significant retention impact of AI-driven student engagement and discover the innovative strategies and solutions implemented by these leading institutions.

Registration Below: 

https://share.hsforms.com/1jHfPjzzvS-qa85fNFMxojQ2rcx3

Advocacy Day brings Michigan Independent Colleges & Universities members and students to the State Capitol on April 17th! We will meet with legislators and policymakers to advocate for continued investment in the Michigan Tuition Grant (TG) and Michigan Achievement Scholarship (MiAS) as well as bring attention to independent higher education institutions in Michigan.

During Advocacy Day the legislature will typically hold a Higher Education Committee hearing for MICU members and students to testify on the benefits of student financial aid programs. The institutions will testify with students who can share personal stories about how state aid programs have helped them and the impact of these programs on our institutions.

We also encourage members to bring mascots for the day. Mascots are frequently featured in the news and on legislator's social media. Having mascots brings attention and excitement to the day and generally creates a buzz around the capitol.

The event runs roughly from 9am to 3pm but meetings may be scheduled outside these times if needed by a legislator or policymaker. MICU will set up legislative meetings for your institution. Lunch will be available to attendees. MICU will provide each institution agendas, talking points/materials, and legislative meeting times (times and locations that you will meet with your Senator, Representative, and staffers within your institution's legislative district) with you prior to the day.

There is a $500 per institution fee to participate in Advocacy Day.

According to Meadow, 50% of students pay late at least once and 100% of schools wish they would pay on time.

Join MICU and Meadow on April 4 at 2pm and dig into a recent survey of 500 students to understand what gets in their way of paying on time, go deep into Meadow's guide on student engagement and communications and learn how they support schools in Michigan and beyond.

MICU Vice President, Colby Cesaro, presented information on Federal Regulation Updates to the following working groups: Financial Aid, Provost/CAO, Registrar, and VP of Finance/CFO. Additionally, Colby presented this information nationally to other states through webinars in partnership with the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and Association for Institutional Research (AIR).

During the presentations a checklist and matrix were reviewed and discussed. Each of these resources provided guidance on the areas of Financial Value Transparency (FVT) & Gainful Employment, Transcript Withholding, Licensure Program State Compliance, Financial Responsibility Metrics, and Career Services & Experiential Education Requirements. Specifically, the matrix provides an overview on what it means on campus and who on campus will be impacted.

The checklist and matrix provide MICU member institutions with a framework and starting point as you work with your campus team to comply with the new regulations, which take effect on July 1, 2024.

On March 14 at 12pm we will hold a virtual session to check in with MICU members on progress towards compliance with these regulations, including a roundtable discussion where we can answer questions and provide assistance.

During this session hear about updates to the program and an overview to see how it can benefit your institution, faculty, and staff!

Strengthen your retirement benefit offer through a multiemployer retirement plan solution! Plan sponsors face increasing economic and fiduciary challenges. To help you, MICU offers a Multiple Employer Plan (MEP), a retirement plan program that allows you to offer a competitive retirement plan that benefits you and your employees.

The MICU MEP centralizes administrative and fiduciary support for plan sponsors. As a member of the MEP, you can take advantage of:

• Simplified plan design and investment choices

• Cost efficiencies through pooled resources

• Reduced fiduciary exposure

• Tools and resources to help with general administration and requirements

For your employees, the MICU MEP offers strong participant support to help promote financial literacy and responsible savings strategies among your employees—while enhancing your workforce management.

The MICU MEP is proud of our partnership with Millennium Advisory Services, Inc., Pentegra, PlanPILOT and TIAA, highly regarded and experienced providers, in making the MICU MEP available to our member institutions.

• Millennium Advisory Services, Inc., Registered Investment Advisor, provides the on-campus education and advice services for participating institutions

• Pentegra, the ERISA 402(a) named fiduciary and the ERISA 3(16) plan administrator, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the plan

• PlanPILOT, the ERISA 3(38) investment manager, responsible for the selection and monitoring of the funds in the investment menu

• TIAA, the plan recordkeeper, bringing 100 years’ experience in financial reporting and plan sponsor and participant services for the not-for-profit community

The MICU MEP focuses on improving and providing collaborative and cost-saving programs for member institutions. We’ve designed our program to generate economies of scale resulting in cost savings and improvements in the quality of goods and services to students, faculty and staff at Michigan’s independent colleges and universities.

LeaderU for Student Success and Leadership Development from FranklinCovey
Learn about student success and leadership development resources from the World's most trusted leadership company, FranklinCovey. Our co-presenter Damon Brown, Vice President of Student Affairs at Alma College, will share the implementation and utilization of LeaderU at Alma College to help promote student success. This program allows students to develop career skills, achieve wellness and attain success in college and beyond. LeaderU is a web-based learning portal that gives students access to FranklinCovey courses that embody the marketable and transferable skills vital to success in any industry or career. By demonstrating mastery of essential leadership and career skills, students will put themselves in an optimal position to persist in college, graduate, get hired, become promoted, and thrive in any future workplace. We enable greatness in people and organizations everywhere and would like to introduce you to LeaderU.

*Elevate Your Students
*Engage students in valuable personal development
*Prepare students with employability skills to succeed in the workplace
*Provide industry-valued credentials
*Enhance Your Institution
*Boost the value of earning a degree
*Stand out in a crowded field of education options
The target audience for LeaderU are leaders from student affairs, advising, academics, residential life, athletics, first year programs, enrollment and career services.

The All Access Pass for Staff and Faculty Leadership Development
The All Access Pass and the Impact Platform from FranklinCovey Faculty focus on the other side of developing leaders in higher education: Faculty and Staff Leadership Development. Expand your reach, achieve your business objectives, and sustainably impact staff and faculty performance with unlimited access to FranklinCovey content through the Impact Platform. We combine powerful content, a team of experts, a dynamic behavior change platform, and key metrics. Together these guide leaders and teams through Impact Journeys that deliver exceptional results again and again. The FranklinCovey All Access Pass helps you get the most value out of your L&D investment by providing access to content and technology, as well as a deep bench of experts to design and deliver a unique learning experience tailored to your organization’s needs.
The target audience for the All Access Pass are college leaders from human resources, talent management, continuing education and executive staff.