ESCANABA, Mich. — Bay College is partnering with the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council and the Upper Peninsula Construction Council to create a new pathway for skilled tradespeople to earn college degrees.
On Wednesday, the three organizations signed a formal articulation agreement that grants college credit for the completion of U.S. Department of Labor-registered apprenticeships. Under the agreement, eligible apprentices can earn 45 of the 60 credits required for an associate degree at Bay College in their chosen field.
“The partnerships that were set in place today with the articulation agreement signing really opens the door for students,” said Cindy Gallagher, vice president of workforce innovation and strategic partnerships at Bay College. “It’s creating clear pathways for a student that has completed a department of labor registered apprenticeship program. If they want to pursue their associate’s degree and hopefully ultimately their bachelor’s degree, it creates a clear pathway.”
Bay College President Dr. Nerita Hughes said the arrangement offers a significant time and cost savings for students.
“If they are full time, then that saves them about three semesters,” Hughes said. “That’s provided they’re doing about twelve to fifteen credits per semester. But knowing where we’re sitting today, we have more part-time students than full-time students, so that would probably save them a little bit more, when we know a part-time student is taking longer than four semesters to complete their degree.”
Ryan Stern, a field representative for the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council, said the program could help reverse population decline in the Upper Peninsula by encouraging workers to stay and build careers locally.
“The population in K-12 schools is way down from where it was fifteen years ago,” Stern said. “So we’re hoping that people will stay here, raise their families, have kids, and support the school district, and then also more industry will come, and more sustainable jobs, and just make the U.P. thrive as a whole.”
Hughes said the agreement could serve as a statewide model for how colleges and trades can collaborate to support workforce development.
“We’re using the U.P. as a model to say, ‘we’re going to start with us,’ and then the hope is that other community colleges and universities would actually take hold of this same idea and replicate it,” she said. “They may not necessarily duplicate it but they can absolutely replicate and say ‘what’s going to fit my institution.’”
The agreement was signed at Bay College’s Escanaba campus during a public event attended by local officials and workforce stakeholders.