Colleges and Universities

In 2022, the URC reported:

• $20.6 billion net economic impact in 2021 with 139,624 enrolled students. The URC indirectly supported an additional 13,877 jobs in Michigan for a total of 80,230 jobs that were directly or indirectly attributable to a URC institution.
• In 2021, the URC had almost 1.5 million alumni worldwide with 712,000 graduates residing in Michigan.

Enrollment increases are needed to sustain progress to reach 60% postsecondary educational attainment and cut the racial equity gap in half by 2030. In fall 2021, more than 317,600 students enrolled into a postsecondary program in the Detroit region. For more data on college enrollment please visit, Detroit Data Center.

In 2021, a total of 60,985 students graduated from a postsecondary program in the Detroit region. Certificates accounted for (4,989), associate (11,513), bachelor’s (28,477), master’s (12,045), and professional or PhD (3,079) of the total.

In 2021, the Detroit region had roughly 51,210 graduates of whom 72% were white, 13% Black, 8% Asian and 6% Hispanic. Since 2017, however, growth in college graduates has declined significantly for Black and white students in the Detroit region. From 2017 to 2020, white graduates declined 15.2% and Black graduates declined 28.0%. While the region experienced growth in Asian (+21.8%) and Hispanic (+24.3%) college graduates.

Michigan ranks 7th among all state for total degree completions from public institutions for every type of degree (e.g., bachelor’s) with more than 94,000 degrees awarded in 2021. In the Detroit region, almost 55,000 degrees were awarded from public and private institutions in 2021. The most awarded programs in the region included health profession, business, management, marketing, and engineering.