So, you're thinking about attending a college or university in Michigan?

Found in the east north central portion of the United States, Michigan is the only state to lie on two separate peninsulas. With the majority of its boundaries surrounded by the great lakes, giving Michigan the longest freshwater shoreline in the U.S., the only states that it is physically bordered by are Ohio and Indiana in the south of the southern peninsula and Wisconsin to the south of the northern peninsula.

The state of Michigan consists of 58,110 square miles of land, which makes it the largest state east of the Mississippi River, if you include the 38,575 square miles of water it controls in the Great Lakes. The upper peninsula is heavily forested and, in the west, if fairly mountainous. The lower peninsula, on the other hand, is made up of generally level land broken only by gently rolling hills that don't differ in elevation by more than 200 feet. Both parts of the state have numerous lakes and marshes and are connected by a five-mile-long bridge.

The climate of Michigan differs somewhat depending on where you are in the state. The southern and central parts of the southern peninsula tends to have a warmer climate, with hot, humid summers and cold, but relatively shorter winters. The northern section of the southern peninsula along with the entire northern peninsula has a more severe climate, with warm, humid but shorter summers and long, cold winters. The average precipitation throughout the state is around 30-40 inches a year.

Michigan averages somewhere around 30 days of thunderstorms per year. These can be severe, especially in the southern portions of the state. On top of this, the state averages 17 tornadoes annually, with these being much more common in the extreme southern areas. Further north, tornadoes have happened, but they are rare.

In the year 2000, Michigan had the 8th largest population in the United States. As of the 2005 census, the population had increased by 1.8%, giving the state an estimated population of 10,120,860. In recent years, there has been a growth in foreign born residents as well. In 2006, the state had a foreign-born population of 688,413.

Politically, the state has leaned toward the Democratic Party in national elections. In the last four presidential elections, Michigan has supported the Democrat's candidate. In 2004, John Kerry won the state over George W. Bush with 51.7% of the vote. In U.S. Senate elections, Democrats have won nine of the last ten elections.

Most Michigan residents, 82%, say they are Christian. Of these, 58% are Protestant while 23% are Roman Catholic and 1% hold other Christian beliefs. With 2% of the population following Muslim teachings, Michigan has a higher percentage of Muslims than any other American state. A remaining 15% of the population say they hold no religious affiliation.

Although Michigan has a flat income tax rate of 3.9%, which gives it one of the lowest top bracket rates in the nation, some cities within the state levy additional income taxes. Michigan's state sales tax is currently 6%, but the state doesn't allow city or local sales taxes in addition to this.

There are a number of colleges and universities to decide between if you want to attend school in Michigan. Some of these are:

• Michigan State University

• The University of Michigan

To find more information about universities and colleges in this area, visit the Online College Degrees page on this website.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Michigan".

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