Keeping Our Grads: Why northern Michigan's future depends on bridging the gap from college to career
June 2026
There are few seasons in life that feel as full of possibility as graduation season. This year, that feeling is especially close to home. In May, my daughter graduated from Loyola Chicago, and my son walked the stage at St. Francis High School. Like many parents across our region, we are celebrating their achievements and preparing for what comes next.
For our students, graduation marks the beginning of careers, communities, and lifelong economic participation. For those of us focused on regional growth, it’s a critical inflection point: Do these graduates see a future for themselves here in Michigan, and more specifically, here in northern Michigan? Right now, the answer is mixed.
Michigan continues to face real challenges in education and economic competitiveness. A recent Detroit Regional Chamber analysis highlighted a growing disconnect between perception and reality: Many residents believe the state is performing near the national average, but the numbers tell a different story. Michigan ranks 33rd nationally in degree attainment, 44th in student reading performance and 40th in per capita income. When it comes to attracting high-tech jobs, we fall to 45th.
At the same time, the state has set ambitious targets to reach 60% post-secondary attainment by 2030 and expand high-skill jobs across scientific, technical and professional fields. There are also encouraging demographic signals. Since 2020, Michigan has gained more than 87,000 residents in the 25 to 44 age bracket; a meaningful reversal after years of decline. Two of the primary drivers of that migration at the state level are manufacturing jobs and strong recreation industries. Sound familiar?
But growth without retention won’t get us where we need to go. Statewide, Michigan performs relatively well in retaining college graduates, ranking seventh nationally. But that success isn’t evenly distributed. Rural regions retain closer to 50% of their young talent, compared to 70 to 75% in metro areas. Graduates leave due to a perceived lack of economic opportunity. More than a third of young people say they would leave Michigan due to limited career options in their field. That is our challenge and our opportunity.
If we want graduates to build their lives here, we have to bridge the gap between education and employment more effectively. That’s where internships and experiential learning can play an important role. Internships don’t just help students build resumes; data shows they fundamentally change outcomes. They double the likelihood that a graduate secures a strong first job and significantly increase long-term career engagement. Last year, 8.2 million college students sought an internship; only 3.6 million got one. That 4.6 million shortfall represents careers and economic potential left unrealized. For employers, the math is a no-brainer; the internship-to-hire ratio is roughly 144 times better than the traditional job-posting-to-hire ratio.
Northwestern Michigan College plays a vital role in our regional talent ecosystem by providing accessible programs, workforce development initiatives and connections to employers that serve thousands of students across our region. But without a four-year university between Big Rapids and Sault Ste. Marie, we lack the consistent, large-scale pipeline that metro regions benefit from. Many students attending Michigan's universities elsewhere simply are not exposed to the breadth of career opportunities available here, or they lack the structured pathways to find them.
That disconnect has real consequences for our workforce pipeline, and it is a gap we all need to address together. Across the region, organizations including NMC, Michigan’s Creative Coast, Traverse Connect and the Traverse Area Human Resource Association are working to build a more connected system that links students to opportunity earlier and more effectively.
Initiatives like the Traverse City Summer Spark Intern Event are designed to help interns make connections and network within the region. When students can see themselves living here, they are far more likely to stay or return. A new regional internship job board, paired with a resume distribution platform, will make it easier for local businesses to find emerging talent and for students to discover opportunities they might otherwise miss entirely.
We are also supporting employers who want to launch or strengthen their intern programs. Upcoming workshops will cover both the return on investment and the practical steps to build a meaningful internship experience. And we’re taking our message on the road through coordinated presence at university career fairs, where we can tell a more complete story that is not just about career opportunities, but the quality of life that makes this region distinctive. Increasingly, graduates make decisions based on both professional and lifestyle factors. Northern Michigan has a compelling case on both fronts.
Talent attraction and retention don’t happen by accident. We need to build a stronger pipeline connecting Michigan’s colleges and universities to the industries growing here, including advanced manufacturing, healthcare, education, BlueTech, uncrewed systems and many others. We need students to see northern Michigan not as a place they visit, but as a place where they can build a career, a community and a future.
Personally, as I watch my own kids step into their next chapters, I hope I’ve done a good job of helping them prepare. But for our region, the question isn’t whether these graduates are ready for what comes next. The question is whether we are ready for them! If we can connect the dots between education and employment, graduation season can better serve as an invitation to career success for our grads and economic opportunity for our region.
Warren Call is president and CEO of Traverse Connect.
