More selective colleges aim to get rural students who've been accepted to take the leap and enroll

Rural students accepted to selective Amherst College make 
s'mores and discuss their futures. (Photo by Lucy Lu, Hechinger)

Prestigious colleges throughout the U.S. are increasing efforts to convince more rural high school seniors to not only apply for admission but to enroll upon acceptance. Student and family support initiatives are being created to help those seniors take the leap, reports Jon Marcus of NPR in collaboration with The Hechinger Report.

Roughly three years ago, a full-fledged initiative known as the STARS College Network — for the Small Town and Rural Students — was launched by rural-born philanthropist and University of Chicago trustee Byron Trott, who invested $20 million to start the program, Marcus explains. During its first three years, STARS aimed to help more rural students learn what more elite colleges were offering and apply.

Even though more rural high schoolers graduate than their urban and suburban counterparts, getting rural students to consider and apply to colleges like Brown, MIT and Yale is a tall order. "Ninety percent of rural students graduate from high school," Marcus reports. "But only a little more than half go straight to college."

The reasons rural high school graduates avoid colleges, particularly those that are more selective or far away from home, are complex and can range from being scared off by tuition costs to not even knowing where to start applying. Nonetheless, the STARS College Network has made progress. Marcus adds, "As STARS has built momentum, more than 90,000 rural students applied to its member institutions last year, up 15% over the year before."

But STARS leadership saw a gap. Even when rural students were accepted to more elite colleges, they did not enroll. New funding from the Trott family is working to change that. Marcus reports, "Trott's foundation has since injected another $150 million into STARS, which has expanded from 16 member schools to 32."

To encourage accepted students to enroll, some STARS colleges are covering the costs for "prospective students and admitted applicants from rural areas to spend a day or two on their campuses," Marcus explains. "More than 1,000 students took advantage of that opportunity last year."

Not only does adding rural students to a selective college body help rural students and families achieve upward mobility, but it also helps colleges create a more diverse set of opinions and learning experiences for all students. Michael Elliot, the president of prestigious Amherst College in Massachusetts that participates in STARS, told Marcus, "Students growing up in rural areas bring perspectives and experiences that students from urban environments don't have."

Small towns use simple fix that starts with private funds to keep high schoolers out of dead-end jobs

rootED advisors help rural students navigate educational
and employment complexities. (rootED photo)

A new program launched by billionaire investment banker Byron Trott is helping students at small-town high schools develop and execute after-high-school plans that tap into their interests and keep them out of "dead-end jobs," reports Lauren Weber of The Wall Street Journal. 

Called rootEd Alliance, Trott's program "has placed advisers in schools across seven states to fill a gaping void: 17- and 18-year-olds are expected to navigate an astoundingly complex labor market, often with little or no explicit guidance," Weber explains. 

The majority of the 280 schools that rootEd partners with "already have guidance counselors," Weber writes. But many are "overstretched with basics like sorting students’ schedules and managing the life emergencies that hit students all too often."

The program partners with more than 1,500 national
and local businesses. (rootED photo) 

By planting an advisor dedicated to providing career guidance and opportunities, students and their post-high school plans get more attention. According to Weber, that kind of focused planning is particularly important for rural students who are traditionally exposed to fewer career options and role models. Root advisers also help employers connect with potential employees to fill skilled-labor shortages. 

Through its advisors, rootED also aims to help students avoid poverty by training for careers with solid pay and promotion possibilities. Weber reports, "Once a school is staffed with a rootEd adviser, students are 54% less likely to wind up in low-skill, low-paying jobs than before." 

At schools where a rootEd advisor is working, students are more likely to pursue higher education. Weber adds, But advisors are "agnostic on whether students choose college, military service, employment or trade school," Weber reports. "The goal is for each senior to have a Plan A and ideally a Plan B." To help students develop those plans, advisors take students to different trade schools and colleges and promote scholarships.

University extension services could help balance rural and urban priorities, but schools have been slow to expand

Expanding university extension services could help balance
rural and urban opportunities. (Photo via the Yonder)

When universities keep extension services limited to agricultural outreach, they miss opportunities to balance their educational mission to serve urban and rural populations equally.

An Ohio State University study completed in 2021 and repeated with roughly the same 400 respondents in 2025, asked respondents if universities should favor urban or rural residents. In 2021, 70% of respondents "answered that 'there should be no difference between how rural and urban communities are prioritized,'" reports Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder. In 2025, 83% of participants said both populations should receive an equal focus.

"Nearly all of the respondents who wanted a balanced approach still held that stance four years later — meaning that most of the shift came from people who previously felt universities should favor one geographic region over the other," Fouriezo explains. Researchers believe the increase in respondents who support an equal division of university resources "underscores that universities aren’t structured to deliver the balance that the public wants."

Stephen Gavazzi, whose team conducted the survey, told Fouriezo, "It’s so easy to look at the university structure and realize: We’re not set up for that."

Extension services are the primary tool many universities use to reach rural populations. Fouriezo writes, "When extension programs only focus on agriculture, rural communities miss out on everything else the university offers — from business development to social work to engineering."

While some states have moved their extension offerings out of agricultural colleges, others are reluctant to make the change. Fouriezos explains, "Switching would require universities to admit their current structure doesn’t match their mission, or what the public expects from them."

When university administrations limit extensions to their agricultural college, they leave all their other colleges behind, which limits learning choices for rural residents. Fouriezos reports, "That narrow ag-centered focus doesn’t reflect the current diversity of rural towns and their communities, which have become important hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship."

Smaller, religiously affiliated campuses are often the best option for rural students, but many are 'fighting to survive'

St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy are working to unite, so both
can remain open. (Photo by M. Rundle, Hechinger Report)

Smaller religious colleges that offer rural students a place to pursue higher education are struggling to keep their doors open. To combat ongoing financial woes, many religiously affiliated colleges are creating ways to join forces with like-minded colleges.

"Rural students often have few options other than religious institutions fighting to survive," reports Jon Marcus for The Hechinger Report. "The heads of St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy, in Iowa, said they’ve watched as nearby religiously affiliated colleges, athletic rivals and institutions that employed their friends and former colleagues closed."

As the number of students graduating from high school shrinks, smaller colleges face dwindling enrollments and rocky financial futures. Marcus writes, "The threats to smaller religiously affiliated institutions in rural areas stem largely from the downturn in the already short supply of high school graduates choosing to enroll. The proportion of such students going straight to college has fallen even more sharply in many largely rural states."

The schools merging or working out unique collaborations with other colleges are striving to protect both institutions from closures or drastic reductions in majors or student services. "Ursuline College in Ohio, for instance, which has fewer than 1,000 students, has agreed to merge with larger Gannon University, 95 miles away. Both are Catholic," Marcus adds. "Bluffton University in Ohio, which is Mennonite, is looking for a new partner after a planned merger fell through in February and the president resigned."

Religiously affiliated institutions often serve more "rural areas where access to higher education is more limited than in urban and suburban places and is becoming less available still as public universities in rural states have merged or closed or cut dozens of majors," Marcus reports. St. Ambrose President Amy Novak told Marcus, “We serve the poor. We educate the poor. That is a risky financial proposition at the moment for small, regional institutions that are largely tuition-driven.”

For Hechinger’s list of all college closures since 2008, click here.

Top U.S. colleges are trying harder to recruit and retain rural students; admission offers rose by 12.9% over last year

The STARS College Network works to help rural students get into
selective colleges and succeed as undergraduate students. (Adobe Stock photo)

Rural students often graduate from high school with better grades and test scores than their suburban and urban counterparts, but that rarely leads to them graduating from top U.S. college programs. To address this disparity, the STARS College Network has been working to engage and support rural undergraduates "to feel more at home at selective colleges," reports Rebecca Koenig of EdSurge. 

The STARS program brought together "16 public and private institutions committed to improving their efforts at attracting and retaining students who grew up in rural communities," Koenig writes. "Programs at member colleges include hosting summer learning opportunities and on-campus recruitment events for high schoolers and sending more admissions staff out to high schools in small towns."

The network began in 2023 and has flourished. "The consortium announced that it is doubling its membership — to include 32 colleges and universities," Koenig explains. "This growing interest is a recognition of the fact that although federal data shows 90 percent of students from rural regions graduate from high school, only about half go directly to college."

During middle school and high school, many rural students are less likely to be exposed to higher education opportunities. Historically, more selective colleges did not actively recruit in smaller communities. "Students at rural high schools may lack access to adequate counseling about college options and financial aid," Koenig reports. "Or they may not be offered classes that selective institutions look for among applicants, such as calculus."

Rigorous recruitment efforts by STARS College Network schools created a substantial increase in college offers to rural students. Koenig adds, "STARS schools extended more than 11,000 offers of admission to the Class of 2028, which was a 12.9% increase over the number of admissions offers made to rural students in their applicant pools last year."

STARS colleges see rural student retention as equally important to admission. Each school has a structure designed to help rural students transition to bigger city and school life. Avery Simpson is a STARS mentor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She told Koenig: “Coming from a rural community, sometimes we forget we’re capable of doing what other people can do. . . . I can see the impact I’m making on these students, and I can see myself in these students.”

To view the STARS College Network list of participating institutions, click here.

Some colleges offer a 3-year bachelor's degrees to address student expenses and lower enrollment numbers

Colleges are piloting 3-year degree programs in
several states. (Adobe Stock photo)

Amid decreasing enrollment and increasing student costs, some colleges are offering three-year degrees as a solution. "The programs, which also are being tried at some private schools, would require 90 credits instead of the traditional 120 for a bachelor's degree and wouldn't require summer classes or studying over breaks. In some cases, the degrees would be designed to fit industry needs," reports Elaine S. Povich of Stateline. "Proponents of the three-year degree programs say they save students money and set them on a faster track to their working life. But detractors, including some faculty, say they shortchange students."

Utah is one state where the board of higher education approved the 3-year degree. "Various areas of study would be tied to specific industry needs, with fewer electives required," Povich explains. "These degrees are broader than two-year associate degrees but narrower than a full four-year bachelor's."

Geoff Landward, commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, told Povich, "We told the institutions to start working on them now and developing the curriculum. We want them to find industry partners that would be willing to hire people with bachelor's degrees of this type. . . . If we are partnering with industry and they help us develop it, I don't think it cheapens the degree. I think it creates a very specific degree."

The new three-year degree programs requiring fewer credits would still need national accreditation.

Changing social views on the importance of a college degree are some of the reasons colleges are getting creative. "A Pew Research Center survey found only 1 in 4 American adults said it is extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree to get a good-paying job," Povich reports. "More than a dozen public and private universities are participating in a pilot collaboration called the College-in-3 Exchange to begin considering how they could offer three-year programs." 

Student journalists get on-the-ground training at campus protests; some were beaten and threatened with arrests

Student journalist face tough crowds and strict policing
while reporting on campus protests. (Adobe Stock photo)

Amid angry crowds of their peers and responding law enforcement, student journalists are tasked with reporting on campus protests, leaving them in an uncomfortable fray where safety isn't guaranteed. "They're immersed in the story in ways journalists for major media organizations often can't be," report David Bauder and Christine Fernando of The Associated Press. "They face dual challenges — as members of the media and students at the institutions they are covering."

Even as the crisis heated up, student journalists worked to report on it -- even when their efforts were thwarted. AP reports, ". . . a student-run radio station broadcast live as police cleared a building taken by protesters on the Columbia University campus, while other student journalists were confined to dorms and threatened with arrests."

Some student reporters learned first-hand how dangerous angry crowds can become. Bauder and Fernando report, "Ordered by police to leave the scene of a UCLA campus protest after violence broke out, Catherine Hamilton and three colleagues from the Daily Bruin suddenly found themselves surrounded by demonstrators who beat, kicked and sprayed them with a noxious chemical."

Despite the attack, Hamilton, 21, remains adamant that she will continue to report on the protests. She told AP: “While it was terrifying. . . the experience confirmed for me the importance of student journalists because we know our campus better than any outside reporter would. It has not deterred me from wanting to continue this coverage.”

Chris Mandell, a student journalist at Columbia University, was covering the story, but his reporting was stymied by law enforcement. "Even though he wore a badge identifying him as a member of the press, police ordered him and other reporters for the Columbia Daily Spectator into a dormitory," AP reports. "When he tried to open the door, Mandell said he was told he’d be arrested if he did it again."

For young journalists, this is a rough training ground. "Students [face] grappling with complicated editorial decisions for some of the first times in their careers," write Bauder and Fernando. "They confront the awkwardness of reporting on their peers and the challenge not to get swept up in emotion."

Josie Stewart, managing editor for content at Ohio State’s Lantern, told AP: "Every journalist has to balance ethical concerns, but it is more difficult when you’re staring someone in the face in class.”

Here are some of the student publications covering the protests as referenced by AP:

• Columbia University’s Daily Columbia Spectator
• Northeastern University’s Huntington Daily News
• Ohio State University’s The Lantern
• UCLA’s Daily Bruin
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Daily Tar Heel

Opinion: West Virginia University 'faculty are stretched so thin that no one could offer a class on Shakespeare'

(Photo by Chase Barnes, The Atlantic)

As West Virginia University administrators continue to cut classes and degree programs that carve out the humanities, writer Michael Powell asks in his opinion for The Atlantic, "Do West Virginia kids of modest means deserve the humanities?" Below is a condensed version of his thoughts.

"For too long, President E. Gordon Gee of West Virginia University told anyone who would listen that public universities had tried to be everything to everyone and keep up with elite private colleges. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down American universities in 2020, Gee embraced its disruptions as a gift. He began rolling out his own plan. . . . He spoke of investing in medical, nursing, cybersecurity, and business degrees to serve a working-class state with an aging population plagued by disease and drug abuse. . . . Gee terminated more than two dozen majors and cut professors in other programs in areas as varied as foreign languages, public health, jazz studies, and community planning.

"Some cuts were truly baffling, given his insistence on WVU’s obligation to strengthen the state. The university decided to stop granting graduate degrees in environmental health sciences, education administration, and math. Many of WVU’s 27,000 students protested that this wasn’t what they wanted. The faculty cast an overwhelming no-confidence vote in the president, to zero effect. More than 140 professors will soon be without jobs.

"For most students, their state’s main public university remains their best hope of breaching the walls of class difference. As the ax falls, that idealistic mission fades, and inequalities widen. A student at Cornell University, for example, has a buffet of choices, including more than four dozen languages as varied as Sinhala, Old Norse, Farsi, Khmer, and ancient Greek. By contrast, a student at West Virginia University will soon have just four choices—Chinese, Arabic, French, and Spanish—and there will not be enough instructors for students to major in any of them.

"The budget for the school library was cut by $800,000 in recent months, and administrators laid off employees and have suspended ordering new books. Liberal-arts departments cannot afford to fix photocopiers. English faculty are stretched so thin that no one could offer a class on Shakespeare."

Humanities are getting cut from public university offerings, and rural areas can be affected more than others

WVU student poster protesting the cuts.
(Photo by Elaine S. Povich, Stateline)

English, history, philosophy, political science, economics, sociology and Spanish are just some of the subjects on public university chopping blocks, most of whom see the cuts as necessary to meet budget shortfalls and respond to a labor market that does not stress the humanities, reports Elaine S. Povich of Stateline. "Reductions are expected to grow across the country, particularly in rural areas where campus budgets are lower, enrollments are more likely to be falling, and where the pressure for career-oriented majors may be greater. But critics argue that such changes in emphasis will sap states of intellectual firepower, leaving them with fewer leaders and citizens who are well-rounded."

"Humanities courses such as languages, history, arts and literature are particularly vulnerable nationwide. Schools are more inclined to emphasize business, science, math and technology studies, which could lead to more high-paying jobs," Povich explains. "State budget reductions and schools' funding shortfalls also have contributed to cuts, particularly in rural states. State spending on higher education fell in 16 of the 20 most rural states between 2008 and 2018, when adjusted for inflation, according to a Hechinger Report analysis of data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and policy institute that advocates for left-leaning tax policies."

While statistics show fewer college students are working toward humanities degrees, those who are feel shortchanged and question administrators' intentions when even other majors are cut. A group of West Virginia University students, "led by senior math major Matthew Kolb, of Follansbee, West Virginia, protested on campus this fall, joined by some faculty members whose jobs are being cut," Povich reports. "But it was no use; the school announced that it would eliminate 8% of its majors and the Ph.D. program in mathematics. The school also is cutting faculty in career-oriented departments such as mining engineering and petroleum and natural gas engineering."

WVU English professor Adam Komisaruk says, "The larger question is what state universities want to be."  He told Povich: "Is our mission as a university simply to respond to market forces and popular prejudice and to make educational decisions based on supply and demand? Or are we committed to providing a robust and diverse exposure to modes of thought that will allow our students to become knowledgeable, responsible, ethical, and engaged members of society?"

"Rural students can be particularly affected by university cuts, said Andrew Koricich, executive director for the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges and an associate professor at Appalachian State University in North Carolina," Povich reports. "As West Virginia is a mostly rural state, a higher proportion of its students come from rural areas." He told Povich: "A lot of states are shifting more toward looking at higher education not just as a public good but as a cost-benefit calculation. Then it becomes a value judgment whether rural students deserve the same education as urban institutions and students."

When searching for different ways to teach college journalists, one teacher heads to the pool tables

Journalism student Hayden Smith takes a shot at the pool
tables. (Photo by Harrison Rich via The Conversation)

A novel venue with an unconventional instructional tool can be a different way to teach aspiring journalists. "I wanted to break up the monotony of having students sit at their computers and write news stories or listen to me lecture," writes Jamaal Abdul-Alim for the "Uncommon Courses" series from The Conversation, a journalism platform for academics. "So I figured I'd change the venue and try something more kinetic. I had been going to the TerpZone – a recreational area in the basement of the student union where I teach. . . . As I watched students shoot pool, I thought: It would be cool to hold at least one class meeting here."

Abdul-Alim, who teaches at the University of Maryland at College Park, wrote that students found that playing pool "gave them a visual way to understand what journalists do. One student found it helpful for players to 'step back and take a new look at the table before their turn' – a concept that easily applies to reporting a story. . . . 'Finding the right angle for an article requires taking a fresh look at the facts and quotes, the student wrote. . . . Another student said both journalism and shooting pool require patience. A different student touched on the benefits of remaining calm – whether as a journalist on deadline or when it's time to sink the eight ball to win the game."

Part of the pool lesson works to build journalistic integrity. "If pool – or any other game – can teach future journalists to be more thoughtful about how they pursue stories, perhaps it can lead to better coverage and help restore public confidence in what the media report," Abdul-Alim adds. "There are other reasons why an approach like this makes sense at this particular time. Students are under a lot of academic stress, which can affect their overall well-being. As many pool players will tell you, shooting pool can be a positive way to relieve stress. It also can help build self-esteem and improve concentration.

"Also, before we shot pool together, I rarely saw students socialize with one another so effortlessly. When we moved class to the pool hall, students socialized like never before. So it was a good team-building exercise. My only regret was not doing it sooner in the semester."

Big college campuses can overwhelm rural students, so they have started forming their own support groups

Some universities began hosting leadership meetings with
rural students. (Photo by M. Krupnick, Hechinger Report)

When rural students attend colleges and universities, many face daunting challenges, including the size and scale of campuses, finding where they fit in, and feelings of culture shock, reports Matt Krupnick for the Hechinger Report, which covers education. "Few colleges have clubs for rural students to socialize and help each other through challenges, such as feeling out of place, dealing with crowds or public transportation, and even navigating busy freeways. Fewer still have physical spaces for those students to hang out together."

Rural college students recognized they needed to help each other and organized "their own support networks, mostly in the past two or three years, sometimes even without administration support," Krupnick writes. "Most of these rural student clubs have emerged at Ivy League universities or other highly selective private institutions and often have just a handful of members. But the trend is spreading."

Some administrations took notice and started working to support rural spaces. "It's part of a small but growing effort on some campuses to create a stronger sense of belonging for rural students, who drop out at higher rates than their suburban counterparts," Krupnick reports. Some colleges have set aside library space for gatherings and sponsored Q&As so university leadership members can get to know their rural students.

Having supportive rural peers can help students stand up for their opinions, which their urban counterparts may not understand. "At the University of Chicago, Savannah Doty, a 21-year-old senior from rural eastern Washington, said she felt completely shut down when she brought up rural issues in a class about the histories of infrastructure. 'It got steamrolled by both the professor and the rest of the class,' said Doty, president of that campus's Rural Student Alliance." She added, "I've had that experience hundreds of times in classes, in that my rural identity is downplayed. I think everyone would benefit from hearing about the rural experience."

Krupnick reports, "Many elite colleges are starting to ramp up their recruiting of applicants from rural areas, but students at some institutions say the attention ends there. Rural students, once they arrive on campus, often feel as if their colleges forget about them, noted Ty McNamee, a University of Mississippi assistant professor of higher education who studies rural students."

While there is no official count of how many rural college clubs exist, the trend is catching on. "Educators at Purdue University, Kansas State University and Virginia Tech have said they would like to find more ways to support rural students," Krupnick reports. "Virginia Tech plans to create a physical space for rural students, said Amy Azano, a professor of adolescent literacy and rural education there. Even though the 38,000-student university is surrounded by rural communities, she said, it can still be overwhelming for rural students."

Aging populations and too few skilled workers has 42 states offering 'stay and we'll help you pay' student loan options

Mandy Dwinell opted to stay in Vermont.
(Photo by Oliver Parini, Hechinger)

States with aging populations are enticing skilled workers to stay in their state by paying down their student loans. "At least 42 states have enacted student loan repayment or forgiveness programs since 2018, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures," reports Jon Marcus for The Hechinger Report, which covers education. "Almost all of them are for professionals in specific areas of shortages — mostly teaching and healthcare — or who agree to work in underserved areas.

Jamie Kohn, senior research director for the human resources practice of the Gartner consulting firm, told Marcus: "Generally, there is a massive shortage of talent, particularly in certain skilled talent areas. Student loan repayment may be a way for states to mitigate some of the loss of wage growth that people are feeling, so they not only stay, but can afford to start families and buy houses."

Using student loan repayment options gives states latitude in targeting the types of skilled workers they need. For instance, in Utah, "Doctors, dentists and pharmacists who work for at least three years in underserved areas can get up to $75,000 of their student loans paid off," Marcus reports. "South Carolina will pay off up to $5,000 per year of student loans for teachers. Illinois will help repay the student loan debt of school social workers."

Maine and Vermont are states with some of the nation's oldest populations. Vermont has had a series of private colleges close that were once reliable conduits bringing in "young people there who put down roots and stayed," Marcus explains. "That leaves a smaller population of graduates, a decline that's beginning to happen nationwide and that can result in labor shortages, slower economic growth and declines in state tax revenues. Unemployment in Vermont is just 1.8 percent, third lowest in the country after New Hampshire and Maryland. Maine has projected a need for 75,000 more workers in the 10 years ending 2029."

"Two years didn't seem too much to ask from recent grad Mandy Dwinell, either — especially in exchange for help repaying the $20,000 student loan debt she racked up in a college career interrupted by family obligations. She now works for the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers. She told Marcus: "When I was in high school, I'm, like, as soon as I graduate, I'm out of here, I'm not looking back. . . . [But now] I absolutely love it here!"

Student reporters are filling gaps in statehouse coverage

Statehouse press corps have shriveled with the newspapers that mainly employed them, but "Under professional direction, student reporters are producing important state-government stories across the country," reports Richard Watts of the University of Vermont, who runs a program that places student reporters in small communities and is tracking university programs that provide local news.

"At the University of Missouri, student stories on lack of high-speed internet service in rural areas in 2018 built momentum for lawmakers to pass new legislation that has provided millions of additional dollars to increase access to broadband," Watts writes. "In early 2023, the University of Florida’s statehouse team broke the story of a $300,000 private swimming pool being built at the mansion occupied free of cost by the university president just before Ben Sasse, a former U.S. senator, assumed that role."

Louisiana State University’s statehouse reporters have seen their stories in 92 publications, Watts reports. "In a companion effort, called the Cold Case Project, students dive deeply into racist murders from the state’s past. In late 2022, a series of stories about the police killing of two students at Southern University led to a public apology by Gov. John Bel Edwards," a Democrat.

A Montana student "wrote a probing story in early 2023 questioning spending in a state fund" for substance-abuse and behavioral-health programs, Watts reports. "The story was republished widely, including in small papers like the Ekalaka Eagle, serving a town of 400 people, as well as the statewide news outlet the Montana Free Press. A week later, [Republican] Gov. Greg Gianforte announced $2.1 million in new spending on universal mental-health screening from the fund."

Watts's Community News Service joined the statehouse beat this spring, with a program in which three students each receive six hours of course credit and a $1,000 stipend. They've published at least 23 stories on a wide range of issues. "Students get experience, media outlets get content and the university meets its public-service mission," Watts writes. Private colleges "are largely missing" from the movement, he reports, but in Indiana, "students at tiny Franklin College staff the Statehouse File, producing stories like a deep dive into the KKK’s effects on the state and an examination of pregnancy-related deaths due to new abortion laws."

As enrollment decreases, rural college towns struggle to adapt; when a college leaves, the losses are painful

Kaitlyn Nevel works at her cafe in Clarion, Pennsylvania.
(Photo by Ross Mantle, The New York Times)

Decreasing enrollment in postsecondary education has been particularly challenging for rural communities with colleges, and to survive, they must adapt, reports Lydia DePillis of The New York Times. "For decades, institutions of higher education provided steady, well-paid jobs in small towns where the industrial base was waning. But the tide of young people finishing high school is now also starting to recede. . . . As Americans have fewer children and a diminishing share of young adults pursue a degree, the once-burgeoning market for college slots has kicked into reverse . . . creating a stark new reality for colleges and universities — and the communities that grew up around them." Nathan Grawe, an economics professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., who studies the demand for postsecondary education, told DePillis, “It looks like the future is declining numbers of young people likely to attend college. . . .We’ll start to have some tough stories.”

The western Pennsylvania town of Clarion, pop. 3,900, is an example. DePillis writes, "Clarion has taken immense pride in the graceful campus of Clarion University since the institution was founded as a seminary 156 years ago. Since 2009, when it had 7,346 students, the university has shrunk by nearly half. With the drop in enrollment has come the loss of nearly 200 staff members. . . . Last year, the school even lost its name, as it was merged with two of the 13 other universities in the Pennsylvania State System" of Higher Education.

Fewer students means local businesses have to find solutions, DePilis reports: "Kaitlyn Nevel’s cafe used to be staffed mostly with university students; now she has one such employee. As foot traffic lightened, she branched into catering. Nevel told DePillis, “Ideally, I would love to see the university stay and thrive, but you just have to try and have however many backup plans."

Universities and local businesses can adapt together. "Colleges and the towns they occupy can do little about demographic currents. But they should, experts say, reinforce each other — the university can offer space for community functions and support for small businesses, for example, while the town can throw events for prospective students and their parents," DePillis writes. "Vacant student housing could be converted into homes for new residents who might be able to work remotely or want a quiet place to retire."

Montgomery, West Virginia, Mayor Greg Ingram looks out over the old library
of West Virginia Tech, which moved. (Photo: Nick Fouriezos, The Daily Yonder)

While Clarion offers a possible survival model when enrollment drops, towns that have lost their colleges serve as a somber reminder. "In 2017, West Virginia University relocated West Virginia Tech from its home of 120 years, citing low enrollment and high costs while moving from Montgomery to Beckley, a bigger city an hour up the valley. The decision risks making the former college town of Montgomery into a ghost town," reports Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder.

Such moves are "feeding distrust of larger state universities, many of which have grown larger by acquiring rural outposts that end up being the first cut once leaner times hit," Fouriezos reports. "West Virginia Tech, and its once top-10 engineer program, had been one of the area’s proudest assets. . . . But then WVU bought the campus in 1995. Ever since, residents here feel, the flagship university has worked to move it out."

Montgomery Mayor Greg Ingram told Fouriezos, "In West Virginia, we’re robbing from the poor towns and putting wealth into richer towns. They just wanted it out of here: It’s all political. Fouriezos reports, "Ingram lamented the loss of the Kroger, the car dealership, more than 100 well-paid university professionals, and, of course, the students who rented hundreds of rooms throughout the region."

Hanging out in Montgomery's last remaining bar, Fouriezos overheard one patron say, “I love West Virginia University, but they wrecked the city of Montgomery.”

Friday's quick hits: All's quiet with rural reticence; celebrating Nina Simone; want your own Tiny Desk concert?

Nina Simone statue in Tryon, N.C. (Photo by Annie Chester)

Born in 1933, Eunice Kathleen Waymon was born in the quaint Appalachian town of Tryon, North Carolina. A rare musical talent, Eunice's first stage was the church before she became the Black nationalist known professionally as Nina Simone, Expatalachians recalls. Simone's sultry, distinct voice made her famous, and she used her music to fight against injustice, penning songs like “Mississippi Goddamn," which was her response to a 1963 white-supremacist terror attack in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four young Black girls. She died in 2003.

Rural America has a magic that spills into its music. From Bluegrass to folk to Appalachian roots to harmonica duos, you name it, there's a unique spirit to it. Consider sharing that spirit and enter to have your own "Tiny Desk" performance. Rural has a lot to share.

On Friday, it's good to take a breath. Maybe take a moment to read Maddy Butcher's piece on
rural reticence. . . In the rural West, quiet reserve is an essential skill and a fading art form, lost on people, like me, who rush to react and to be heard. Inevitably, it is rapidly losing ground to a louder, vainer way of being. 

A bachelor’s degree in automotive restoration has put a tiny Kansas school on the map. At a time when college enrollments are diving, McPherson College’s enrollment has been steadily increasing. Because its program is unique, it can cast a wider net than other colleges its size; it has 851 students — up 18 percent over the last five years. Check out that 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet and status symbols by the likes of Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant and Gary Cooper.

The sign said, "Flowers are the Answer." What’s not to love? Floral foam, also known as "green fine-celled thermoset phenolic plastic foam" is particularly not lovable, writes Adrienne Mason for Hakai magazine. Flowers are beautiful, they’re natural, they lift our spirits and fill interior spaces. They let us say things without having to say too much. Mason says florists need to forget foam, embrace new—or re-embrace old—techniques, and educate their customers.

The English village of Lostwithiel is looking for a new general practitioner amid a national shortage of primary-care doctors. Residents hope a music video will do the trick. See what we did there: rural people know how to use music to create some magic. And maybe, just maybe, land a new doctor.

Do you have a friend who can do six degrees of Secretariat instead of six degrees of separation? Some people do not know a person like that, or anything about horse racing. Well, giddy up! Horse racing is set to join Netflix's stable of sports documentaries. Filming on what is understood to be a four-part series on the "Race to the Kentucky Derby" is set to start next month and the casting process has begun, with the series looking to tell the stories behind the owners, trainers, breeders, and jockeys involved.

States' cuts in higher-education budgets wind up limiting rural students' opportunities at small-town universities

Emporia, Kansas, was once a busy railroad and cattle hub. Many residents today work in beef-packing or pet-food plants or the commercial bakery. The local university is suffering. (Photo by Ji Stribling, The Hechinger Report)

Four-year educational institutions that have served rural students are cutting and downgrading programs citing low enrollment and state budget cuts, reports Jon Marcus of The Hechinger Report. His object example: Aida Witherspoon of southwest Kansas discovered computer coding at Emporia State University, which then said, "because of budget and enrollment problems, it was canceling her program and cutting, merging or downgrading" lots of other programs. “If I was still a high school senior,” Witherspoon told Marcus, “I wouldn’t come here.”

Marcus cites another example: "Henderson State University in Arkansas in May dropped 25 degree programs in disciplines including geography, history, political science, public administration, criminal justice, biology, studio art, communication, theater arts, English and Spanish. Several states are merging universities, many of which serve rural students."

For generations, the path out of rural poverty has been through higher education, but fewer rural young people attend college compared to their counterparts, Marcus notes. "That means the already limited options available to rural students are being squeezed still further, forcing them to travel even greater distances to college than they already do or give up on it altogether."

Andrew Koricich, an associate professor of higher education at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., and executive director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges, told Marcus, “This is just the next in a long line of issues where rural folks are told by people who are not rural what they’re going to have and not have."

Many states with large rural populations "have steadily reduced their higher education funding. Spending on higher education fell in 16 of the 20 most rural states between 2008 and 2018 when adjusted for inflation, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities," Marcus reports. "Higher-education funding per student declined by more than 30 percent in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. In Kansas, it went down by nearly 23 percent."

Many institutional leaders claim "they’re trying to preserve and even expand choice, mostly by creating majors that rural students can take fully or partly online — including many that were never available on their local campuses," Marcus reports. However, "Advocates for rural students are critical of this trend — most notably Koricich, who called it 'cover' for deep program cuts. Another problem: Nearly 1 in 5 people in rural places don’t have access to high-speed internet, compared with about 1 percent in cities, according to the Federal Communications Commission."

Two studies aim to expand understanding of rural colleges and the challenges they face

The first step in helping rural colleges and universities is figuring out how which schools count as rural, but rurality is complicated; definitions can conflict. Two new reports aim to provide clarity. Essentially, the first report focused on identifying and mapping rural schools, while the second report focused on schools that may not be located in a rural area but serve a significant number of rural students commuting.

"Both studies received funding from Ascendium Education Group. Though it might seem like the mapping projects would overlap, researchers say they are complementary, like salt and pepper," Josh Moody reports for Inside Higher Ed. 

The first report, released in December by the University of Wisconsin, "Mapping Rural Colleges and Their Communities," discovered some rural institutions were not reflected as such in the commonly-used Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Education professor Nicholas Hillman and his team cross-referenced schools on that list with those on the Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs, which contains more detailed information, and "turned up programs in far-flung corners of the U.S. as well as educational partnerships serving students in unexpected locations, such as hotels and conference centers," Moody reports.

"The second study, released Monday, comes from the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges and is also a mapping project," Moody reports. "However, the ARRC effort focuses on identifying and mapping institutions that are rural-serving rather than colleges that are located in rural areas, factoring in colleges that may be in well-populated towns or suburban areas but have a strong regional pull."

Study finds these factors bring college grads back to rural hometowns: schools, friends, rurality, fewer degree holders

"Many academics and journalists have written about rural 'brain drain,' the migration of talented and bright young people who leave their communities, usually in search of better economic opportunities. Now Iowa State University researchers "have identified three significant factors that draw people back to their hometowns a decade or two after leaving: public schools, population density and other college-degree-holders in the community," says an ISU press release.

The study, recently published in Rural Sociology, found that college graduates between 34 and 43 were more likely to return to their rural hometowns after graduation if they had a strong attachment to their public K-12 school, felt like their teachers cared about them or that they were part of their school's community, and/or had close friends there. 

The researchers also found that grads were more likely to come back to hometowns with lower population density and fewer postsecondary degree holders. They speculated that grads felt they could have a bigger impact in such a town, through employment, volunteering, and local leadership.

The findings are an interesting counterpoint to conventional wisdom that pins brain drain on economic factors. While those are surely a factor—a rocket scientist has to go where there are rocket scientist jobs—the study highlights the importance of community and social relationships.

Analysis suggests fewer rural college students major in STEM fields because of inadequate high-school prep

Fewer rural college students major in science, technology, engineering and math than their suburban and urban peers, according to a new analysis of federal data. "Only 13 percent of rural and small town students major in math and science in college, compared with almost 17% of students in the suburbs ... Urban students also trail suburban students when it comes to studying science, but only by a little, according to the federal data." Jill Barshay reports for The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit education newsroom.

That's a problem when more jobs than ever require training in so-called STEM fields. "According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupations in these fields are projected to grow 8 percent by 2029, more than double the growth rate of non-scientific professions," Barshay reports.

Part of the reason for the gap is that fewer rural high-school students go to four-year colleges, but even those who do are less likely to major in STEM fields. A June 2021 data analysis may offer some clues as to why, Barshay reports. Researchers at Claremont Graduate University studied a federal dataset of more than 20,000 students nationwide, and found that rural students had the same interest in math and science careers as their suburban counterparts at the start of high school.

But many rural students weren't as well-prepared for STEM fields: "Rural students posted lower scores on math assessments in early ninth grade than their suburban counterparts and they had taken half as many high-school level courses in middle school," Barshay reports. "By the end of 11th grade, rural students’ desire to pursue a career in math or science dropped below 9%. Some suburban students became disenchanted with a life in math or science too, but their enthusiasm fell only 1 percentage point. At the same time, the math achievement gap between rural and suburban students grew even larger."

The researchers posited three explanations for rural students' declining interest in STEM fields: lack of advanced math and science classes; math and science teachers who weren't as qualified or confident; and fewer opportunities for extracurricular math and science through activities such as science fairs, robotics competitions, or math clubs, Barshay reports.

"Solving these problems won’t be easy. The Rural STEM Education Act proposes to improve teacher training and increase both online and hands-on science education in rural schools. It has bipartisan support, has passed the House and may become law," Barshay reports. "But it will remain hard to justify hiring an Advanced Placement physics teacher for just a handful of students in a small school and harder to recruit an excellent teacher to teach it."

Rural community colleges could get a financial boost from restoration of Pell grant access to prisoners

Newly restored federal funding for prison education could benefit not only prisoners, but rural colleges and the communities around them (since prisons are disproportionately in rural areas).

Higher education programs in prison have been scarce for the past 16 years "because the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (commonly referred to as the 1994 crime bill), which was sponsored by then-Sen. Joe Biden and achieved bipartisan support, prevented incarcerated people from accessing Pell Grants, which was the primary funding source for prison education," Anya Slepyan reports for The Daily Yonder. President Obama began and President Trump expanded a program to restore Pell Grant access to select prisons, including dozens in rural areas, and in December Congress voted to restore full access by 2023 to an estimated 463,000 eligible prisoners.

Prisoners and taxpayers benefit from such programs in multiple ways: The presence of the programs reduces violence within prisons, and a college education could help create upward mobility for the former prisoners' families and break generational poverty cycles. Also, "participants are 48 percent less likely to return to prison after being released, and the Vera Institute estimates that providing postsecondary opportunities to incarcerated people could reduce state prison spending around the country by $365.8 million annually," Slepyan reports. "Other studies show that as an investment, 'prison education is almost twice as cost-effective as incarceration,' and that taxpayers save $4-5 for every $1 spent on prison education. This is partially because earning a college degree in prison open opportunities for returning citizens who are often locked out of employment and further educational opportunities through background checks and other hiring policies that discriminate against the formerly incarcerated."

Rural colleges benefit because prisoners' tuition gives them much-needed funding, which could enable them to not only stay open, but possibly expand programs or hire new instructors. That means more jobs and educational opportunities for non-incarcerated locals too, an appealing prospect for rural community colleges where enrollment has tanked during the pandemic.

Now that funding is restored, "rural colleges around the country are gearing up to provide higher education opportunities to incarcerated students," Slepyan reports. "Many of the colleges are focusing on providing degrees that will lead to practical career paths for incarcerated students."