Bacher entered the University of Michigan, where he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and lived in the frat house. He became the house manager in his sophomore year, but moved back home in his junior year to concentrate on physics. At Randall's suggestion he applied to the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which he entered in 1926 to study for his doctorate. His fees were paid by his family, but his father had a heart attack and could no longer afford them, so in 1927 Bacher moved back to Ann Arbor, where he lived at home, and attended the University of Michigan. He received a Charles A. Coffin Foundation Fellowship from General Electric.