Small Town and Rural Students College Network creates pathways for rural students to institutions seeking diversity

STARS students are all from rural areas. (Photo via STARS)

Rural America is big and diverse and includes some 9.7 million high school students that a group of public and private colleges and universities are working to tap into, writes Kristi Eaton of The Daily Yonder. "The Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network is bringing together 16 higher education institutions to share best practices for rural and small-town students and offer opportunities for students to experience the colleges up close. . . . While nearly all rural students say that it is important to continue their education beyond high school, less than one-third of 19 to 24-year-olds from rural areas are enrolled in college. . . . That's compared to 42% from metro areas."

Majorie Betley, senior associate director of admissions at the University of Chicago and the acting executive director of the STARS College Network, told Eaton, "Having rural and small-town students on their campus is incredibly important to have their perspectives in conversations in the classroom. . . . It's 20% of the United States. And they're severely underrepresented on most college campuses. So that was part of the impetus: our college campuses don't represent what the United States really represents."

STARS boasts schools like Brown, Yale, CalTech and Vanderbilt. "Once on campus, many institutions have Rural Student Alliances," Eaton writes. Betley told her, "They're student-run organizations, but they're closely tied with our efforts like these are relationships that we've built with these students starting back when they were in high school. Now they're on our campuses… and I think relationship building is a really important part of that." Eaton adds, "Betley said the number of rural students at the University of Chicago has grown from about 3% at baseline to 9% currently."

Eaton reports, "Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale University, . . . said people think Yale only accepts one type of student, and that perception needs to change." Quinlan told Eaton, "Our faculty really value teaching diverse students. And we have found that bringing students here from the widest possible array of backgrounds, neighborhood backgrounds, family backgrounds, high school backgrounds, can all be really powerful for our campus community."

To join STARS, member sites must commit to reaching rural students and families with uniquely rural-oriented tools. Its website says: "Every Network member is committed to supporting rural and small-town students and their families through additional programming, including virtual sessions, free on-campus programs, and local sessions with rural and small-town high schools and community-based organizations."