Reconnect Compliance Report FAQ

The 2023-24 Michigan Reconnect Annual Compliance Report will be available soon from the Office of Sixty by 30.  Please check back on this page soon.

Where can I find the Microsoft Forms submission tool?
 Michigan Reconnect Annual Compliance Report (2022-2023 Academic Year)
 
 
When is the report due?
Friday, June 30. It will continue to be due on June 30 for the lifetime of the program.
 
 
Why is the report so long?
 We hear you! There’s a lot that institutions need to respond to in this report. A few things to note:

• The report is shorter than it looks. Because of the way the Microsoft Forms tool is structured, every cell of the tables in the report needs to be its own separate question. That means that even though there are 100 fields to enter data into, more than half of those fields are cells in tables that need to be filled out. 
• The report is narrowly tailored to respond to the legislative requirements. At the beginning of each section, we provide the statutory language that the questions are meant to respond to. Any questions that provided extra information that could have been helpful or interesting but that weren’t explicitly referring to the legislation were deleted during the editing process. We may gather some complementary data that provide context to your responses, but you won’t be required to provide anything besides what’s in the report.
• The content of the report won’t change year to year (except, potentially, for small clarification edits). This means that in every subsequent year you’ll be able to simply update what has changed rather than re-answer all of the questions even if some of your responses would be unchanged year to year. All that’s to say that this year’s submission will be the heaviest lift; future submissions should be easier and quicker.

 
 
Who should I contact with questions?
Start with Dr. Rachel MacMaster at macmasterr@michigan.gov.
 
 
How will this data be used?
Your responses will be aggregated and used to report on Michigan Reconnect in its annual report to the state legislature. Sixty by 30 will also use the information gathered from the report to identify areas where the office can be of assistance and where there are opportunities for growth across the Michigan community colleges.
 
 
What other data will be used to complement my institution’s submission?
Sixty by 30, in consultation with CEPI and MCCA, will supplement your submission with a variety of quantitative data. This includes, but is not limited to:
•    Enrollment counts (all students, adult students, Reconnect students) with demographic breakdowns
•    Transfers in and out of your institution
•    Courses offered by your institution (aggregated by ACS code)
•    Success/graduation rates over time
•    Number of recipients/dollar amounts of wraparound funds from Sixty by 30
•    Gateway course enrollment and pass rates
 
 
When will we receive the baseline data on adult student success? 
CEPI has calculated the completion rates and Sixty by 30 is liaising with them on how to get them sent to the colleges. They should be distributed by the end of May.
 
 
The report asks for All Students regardless of age. Is this to be degree-seeking students only? We have a large percentage of dual enrolled high school students (60% of our enrollment) who would not be considered degree-seeking and would, therefore, throw off our data. Am I correct that we are only to report on students who have completed a high school diploma or GED prior to entering our institution?
We’re using CEPI definitions for creating the cohorts. This means the following:
•    Students enrolled in, or having received an undergraduate certificate or associate degree from, a Michigan community college or tribally controlled postsecondary institution in the reporting year.
•    Only undergraduate, degree-seeking students are included.
•    Dually enrolled, Early Middle College, and other high school students are excluded.
•    For credential metrics, only students who earned an associate degree or undergraduate certificate are included. Students who earned other levels of academic awards are excluded.
 
So the short answer is yes, please exclude high school students who have not received a high school diploma or equivalency.
 
 
I was forwarded a link to the updated compliance report due in June. I noticed a lot of tables that said data would be supplied by 60x30 – do we have access to that information already?
Those data have been calculated by CEPI and are being packaged for distribution but haven’t been distributed yet. They will be entered into the reporting template on the back end after submission, but Sixty by 30 can provide the data that will be entered if that would be helpful.
 
Will Sixty by 30 provide a list of those UICs for any cohort it defines, so we can determine specifically what those students did?
The CEPI data are already aggregated so we don’t intend to send UICs for those included in each cohort. Please refer to the cohort definitions above for details on who is included and who is excluded. Since we’re using CEPI data and since they created the cohorts, they should be contacted with any questions. 
 
How is developmental education defined for the two tables in Section 10?
Please contact Jenny Schanker at MCCA for any questions on developmental education. We consulted with her to write the developmental ed section of the report, so she is best equipped to answer any questions.
 
 
The report says to use the 2022-2023 academic year. We are assuming that is Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023. Is that correct? For some of the questions, we won't have the data, such as completion rates, from the summer as our semester will start mid-May.  

We’re looking at the 2022/23 academic year, but we’re doing so with the understanding that institutions won’t have some of the data available until after the summer semester starts. If there are data that become available for the 2022/23 academic year after the June 30 deadline, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss it on next year’s report.
 
 
Where do Reconnect students come into this report?  The reporting tables look like you are only asking for all students and adult students.  
 The Reconnect legislation requires institutions to explain how their policies and practices meet the qualifications to participate in the Reconnect program. The focus of the report is on the institution rather than the student, which is why we ask for data on all students generally and adult students specifically instead of just data on Reconnect students. Sixty by 30 collects data on Reconnect applications, enrollments, and completions throughout the year and reports on those outcomes in conjunction with this compliance report. If there are programs and practices that your institution provides exclusively for Reconnect students, please be sure to describe them in your responses.   

My college offers bachelor’s degrees. How does that affect my submission?

In Part 4, the report asks you to provide your institution’s most recent IPEDS graduation rate submissions for the first-time/full-time cohorts starting in 2019 (for 100% and 150% time) and 2018 (for 200% time). If your institution offers bachelor’s degrees, your cohort’s starting year will be different. Sixty by 30 will make a note of this in your submission, so report on the cohort you reported on this year even if they didn’t start in 2018 or 2019. Otherwise, there should not be any changes necessary for bachelor’s degree-offering institutions.