Brotherton, now a finance junior, said he made sure his credits transferred before he took the classes. Not all students are as lucky.

Michigan community colleges and universities now are teaming up to work on an agreement to require a statewide standard for general education credits, said Chris Baldwin, executive director of the Michigan Center for Student Success.

Baldwin and academic officials from five community colleges and five universities, including MSU, created a committee this year to draft and submit a proposal to Michigan lawmakers that would allow students to transfer 30 credits of general education requirements to — ideally — any public or private university in the state.

The Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, or MACRAO, reached a transfer agreement about 40 years ago to facilitate the transfer process from community colleges to universities.

Basic English, science and math, social science and humanities credits are commonly transferable under the agreement.

But throughout the years, some colleges and universities chose not to adhere to the agreement for one reason or another. Not all colleges consented to the agreement, and some only adhere to a few of the MACRAO guidelines.

The goal of the new report is to revise the original agreement and get more universities on board.

Baldwin said statewide standards would reduce the chances that students have to retake community college classes once they transferred to a university.

“We need to be as clear as possible to make it as easy as possible for students,” he said.

MSU’s Office of Admissions website offers information regarding the university’s general education requirements and possible equivalent courses students might have taken at community colleges or other universities. Students can transfer up to 60 credits from another institution toward a bachelor’s degree at MSU.

Immanuel Davis has been taking courses at Lansing Community College to save money and hopes to transfer to MSU within the next year or so.

He said while some might think community college courses aren’t as difficult as courses at larger four-year universities and therefore shouldn’t be considered equal in terms of credits, his general education courses at Lansing Community College haven’t been easy.

“None of the classes I have taken have been a walk in the park,” he said. “I’ve had to work for all of them.”

Brotherton hopes the report will encourage universities to create an easier way to discover which courses to take at community college to satisfy university requirements to make the process easier.

“It’s kind of hard to find out,” he said. “You talk to one counselor and they say this, but another counselor says that — it can be confusing.”

Baldwin said the committee developing the report has until Sept. 1 to create a proposal. He said it will be up to community colleges and universities whether to agree to the deal, but he has a feeling most will comply.

“Our hope is that all of the institutions agree,” he said. “We can’t make them do it, but I suspect there will be some political pressure for those who do not.”