Reverse Transfer and Automatic Degree Conferral
MCCA has played a pivotal role in advancing initiatives aimed at reverse transfer and degree reclamation. Through national programs like Project Win-Win, Credit When It's Due, and Degrees When Due, MCCA has partnered with colleges to create and implement strategies that have benefited thousands of students. By facilitating reverse transfer agreements between community colleges and four-year universities, colleges enabled students to transfer credits earned at four-year institutions back to community colleges, ultimately allowing them to earn their associate degrees. Additionally, the focus on degree reclamation has highlighted the importance of institutionalizing practices that support students who have accumulated substantial credits without completing a degree.
With support from a grant from the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP), MCCA is equipping colleges with innovative strategies to enhance degree completion outcomes. Revitalizing reverse transfer integration and partnerships while refining systematic practices to award degrees as students become eligible has the potential to significantly increase degree attainment rates, opening doors to improved career opportunities and fostering long-term economic mobility for countless individuals. By dismantling barriers to success and championing equitable pathways, MCCA is helping create a brighter future for Michigan’s students and communities.
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Automatic Degree Conferral Project Details
Our goal in working with colleges to institutionalize automatic degree conferral (ADC) is to increase credential completion by leveraging institutional systems and data to identify and award earned credentials. This initiative will support community colleges to develop the framework and technical infrastructure needed to implement ADC.
Audience
This series is designed for community college registrars, student records staff, chief academic officers, and student affairs leaders engaged in degree audit, completion, and credentialing processes.
Webinar Schedule and Registration
We encourage institutions to watch the 14-minute project overview video that outlines the goals of the automatic degree conferral project, expectations for participating institutions, and the support and structure that will be carried out by MCCA.
Session 1: Automatic Degree Conferral - Foundations of Policy and Practice
Date: March 25, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Session 2: Operationalizing Automatic Degree Conferral
Date: April 15, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Register for all Finish Forward ADC Sessions
Participation
This phase of the Finish Forward project will move at a more rapid pace, with activities kicking off in March and concluding in late June 2026.
Participating institutions should plan for the following:
- Identification of a primary point of contact (if different from that of the reverse transfer work).
- Completion of an ADC action plan using a provided design template.
- Engagement through webinar attendance, meetings as needed with project consultant Leanne Davis and submission of the final action plan.
- Eligibility for a minimum stipend of $5,000 upon completion of the action plan and submission of a related stipend request form.
Action Plan
Completion of an institutional action plan is a required deliverable for the Finish Forward: Automatic Degree Conferral project. This action plan supports institutional planning for automatic degree conferral implementation. Colleges should use this tool to document current thinking, key decisions, and areas where additional information is needed. Elements of the plan may evolve as implementation begins.
Community colleges that are new to automatic degree conferral, or those seeking to refine existing policies, structures, or practices, are eligible to participate.
Download the Automatic Degree Conferral Action Plan Template
FAQs
What is Reverse Transfer?
Reverse transfer is the process through which students who transfer from a community college to a four-year institution but have not yet earned an associate degree are able to have their academic credits from the four-year institution applied toward the completion of that degree. The goal is to help these students achieve their associate degree, regardless of whether they go on to complete a bachelor’s degree.
What is Automatic Degree Conferral?
Automatic degree conferral refers to a process in which a college automatically awards a degree to a student once they have met all the requirements for graduation, without the need for the student to formally apply for graduation or request the degree conferral. Despite its name, automatic degree conferral is not a fully automated process. MCCA’s goal is to provide colleges with the systems and resources needed to automatically identify and notify students who are eligible for a degree, regardless of whether they formally apply for graduation.
Why Is this Important for community colleges?
Despite the growing number of community college students transferring to four-year institutions, many students leave without completing their associate degrees and subsequently, don’t complete a bachelor’s degree after transferring. By institutionalizing reverse transfer practices, we aim to:
- Increase credential attainment for students who may have otherwise left higher education without a degree.
- Strengthen partnerships between community colleges and four-year institutions.
- Boost economic mobility by helping more Michiganders achieve a credential that improves their job prospects and earning potential.
- Enhance data sharing and collaboration across institutions to better track and support students on their educational journeys.
What is required for community colleges to receive the Finish Forward Reverse Transfer stipend?
To be eligible, colleges must:
- Sign the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) Course Exchange Statement of Work (SOW), and
- Submit the Finish Forward Reverse Transfer Stipend Request Form to MCCA by the stated deadline.
What is the difference between the priority and final deadlines?
The priority deadline (January 31, 2026) ensures stipend eligibility. Colleges completing the SOW by this date are guaranteed to receive funds. If the SOW is signed between February 1 and May 31, 2026, MCCA may still have funds available, but stipends are not guaranteed after the priority date.
How can colleges use the stipend?
Funds from the stipend can be (but, are not required to be) used to support the integration of the tool itself and/or other reverse transfer work the college is undertaking (e.g. technology, report development, staff time, etc).
Stipends can be directed to your college general fund and no detailed financial reporting will be required by MCCA.
Our college has limited staff capacity to process degree audits. How can we manage this?
Community colleges can work directly with NSC to set a minimum number of credits a student must earn at the four-year institution before being included in reverse transfer data files. MCCA recommends a gradual rollout, starting with students who, for example, have completed 45 or more credits at the transfer institution. This phased approach helps manage workload and refine internal processes. After reviewing initial data files, colleges may adjust the credit threshold as needed.
MCCA is also collaborating with an independent developer to create a companion tool that converts NSC CSV data files into individual student records, streamlining eligibility review.
Our current reverse transfer process works well. What benefit is there to integrating the NSC tool?
Even institutions with established processes benefit from integrating the NSC Reverse Transfer tool, which:
- Expands the number of student records reviewed statewide
- Enables consistent, automated data sharing between community colleges and four-year institutions
- Identifies more students who transferred before completing an associate degree
Statewide adoption of the NSC tool is expected to increase the number of awards conferred and strengthen cross-institutional collaboration to support student success.
How does the NSC Reverse Transfer process work?
Four-year (“host”) institutions send course and grade data for students deemed eligible for reverse transfer to NSC. NSC then:
- Validates and formats the data
- Confirms the student attended an active NSC Reverse Transfer two-year (“degree-granting” [DGI])
- Checks whether an associate degree has already been awarded
After validation, NSC packages and securely transmits the data to the appropriate DGI for review and potential degree conferral.
How is student consent for reverse transfer obtained?
Student consent is required both to award the degree and to share academic records between institutions.
- Two-year institutions typically collect consent to review and confer a degree as part of the admissions process, graduation application, or a reverse transfer application.
- Four-year institutions collect consent to share academic records with the student’s prior community college—often through the transfer admissions application or a separate opt-in form.
Each institution determines how consent is gathered, but both forms must be explicit and documented before data sharing or degree conferral occurs.
Do colleges need separate reverse transfer agreements if they are participating in NSC Course Exchange?
No. Individual agreements between institutions are not required.
Sending institutions designate which community colleges are authorized to receive data. If both are NSC participants, the data exchange occurs automatically within the secure NSC system.
How long are NSC Statements of Work (SOW) valid?
SOWs are “evergreen” and remain in effect indefinitely unless a college requests a specific contract term or chooses to terminate participation.
Will sending institutions only share data with authorized colleges?
Yes. Institutions can only send data to other participating NSC institutions. NSC ensures that only authorized receiving institutions can access student data.
What academic information is included within the NSC reports?
Files received from the host institution include new course and grade information earned at that institution.
Can colleges request that NSC include local student ID numbers?
Currently, NSC cannot include DGI (two-year) student IDs in the shared files, as those identifiers are not available to the sending institutions or NSC. Institutions utilizing the tool conduct a lookup function/record matching verification process using identifiers such as name, date of birth, and the last four digits of social security number.
How are credit thresholds established?
The degree-granting institution sets its own minimum credit threshold for inclusion in the reverse transfer process.
When the host institution submits data, NSC validates that each student meets the college’s established threshold before transmitting the record.
What are the potential ramifications of automatic degree conferral?
MCCA recommends reviewing institutional policies and student advisement procedures to ensure mindfulness of factors such as MI Reconnect eligibility if a student’s degree is conferred mid-program, F-1 visa status impacts for international students, etc.
Want More Information?
Contact Evan Pauken at epauken@mcca.org