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Supporting Rural Students

In recent years, the terms education desert and learning desert have become more recognizable. Although definitions can vary, they are akin to food deserts, which are geographic regions in which healthy food isn’t readily available. In the case of higher learning, education deserts are areas in which post-secondary education is limited or entirely out of reach. Fortunately, the expansion of broadband Internet access and the growth of hybrid and online modalities is creating more opportunities for rural Vermonters to attend college, but this demographic of student often has unique challenges that should be considered as we support them in their academic journeys.

Some support strategies that apply to first generation college students are also applicable to rural students who are often first gen students as well. In addition to those strategies, some additional tips pertaining to rural students are outlined below:

  • Social networks – For rural students on campus who are accustomed to tight social networks, participation in collegiate organizations assists in the adjustment process (Byun et al., 2012). Encouraging them to join clubs and student groups could be helpful in getting rural students to form bonds with their classmates. Also, encouraging rural students to form study groups could be helpful in easing their transition to a setting with unfamiliar cultural norms.
  • Community-focused assignment(s) – Consider developing an assignment, or assignments, that analyze issues present in the students’ communities or hometowns. Such activities can help students reflect critically on their communities, develop communication and other skills, and identify solutions to social problems (Greenberg, London, & McKay 2020; Hall & Jones, 2021; Wollschleger, 2019). This approach of connecting content to students’ communities also allows rural students to capitalize on strengths, such as existing connections to place and family support, while also highlighting the diversity of rural communities (Ardoin, 2017; Whiteside, 2021).
  • Use the data – If your course uses data, such as the statistics available through entities such as the Census Bureau (census.gov) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov), consider integrating a comparative assignment that analyzes experiences or trends in urban, suburban, and rural settings.
  • Classroom discussion – If a course delves into discussions about social stereotypes and discrimination, holding a discussion about the perceptions of urbanites and those living in rural regions could be a productive exercise.

By 2027, 70% of U.S. jobs are predicted to require education beyond high school (Blumenstyk, 2020). Rural areas face workforce shortages in business, healthcare, technology, and education, as well as an overall need for higher-skilled employees with bachelor’s degrees (Bozarth & Strifler, 2019). As a result, institutional commitments to the education of our rural students will yield positive outcomes not only for the students themselves, but also for the small communities in Vermont they may return to following their studies.

References and Additional Reading:

  • Ardoin, S. (2017). College aspirations and access in working-class rural communities: The mixed signals, challenges, and new language first-generation students encounter. Lexington Books.
  • Blumenstyk, G. (2020, January 22). By 2020, They Said, 2 Out of 3 Jobs Would Need More Than a High-School Diploma. Were They Right? The Edge: The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/the-edge/2020-01-22
  • Byun, S., Meece, J., Irvin, M., & Hutchins, B. (2012). The role of social capital in educational aspirations of rural youth. Rural Sociology, 77, 355–379. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1549-0831.2012.00086.x
  • Chandler, J. & Baeta, D. (2023). National rural college completion Trends, challenges, and solutions. The Institute for College Access & Success. https://ticas.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023.-Rural-College-Completion-National-Primer_v2.pdf
  • Hillman, N., & Weichman, T. (2016). “Education deserts”: The continued significance of “place” in the twenty-first century. Viewpoints: Voices from the Field. Washington, DC: American Council on Education. https://www.acenet.edu/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdf
  • Grant, P. D., & Kniess, D. (2023). “I just kind of felt like country come to town:” College student experiences for rural students at one flagship university. The Rural Educator, 44(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.55533/2643-9662.1357
  • Greenberg, M., London, R. A., & McKay, S. C. (2020). Community-Initiated Student-Engaged Research: Expanding Undergraduate Teaching and Learning through Public Sociology. Teaching Sociology, 48(1), 13–27.
  • Manly, C.A., Wells, R.S. & Kommers S. (2020). “Who are rural students? How definitions of rurality affect research on college completion. Research in Higher Education, 61:764–779. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09556-w
  • McNamee, T. C., & Ganss, K.M. (2023). Rural students in higher education: From college preparation and enrollment to experiences and persistence. Peabody Journal of Education, 98:4, 380-395. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2023.2238508
  • Stough-Hunter, A. & Lekies, K. (2023). Effectively engaging first generation rural students in higher education: New opportunities for sociology. American Sociological Association. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0092055X231174516
  • Whiteside, J. L. (2021). Becoming academically eligible: University enrollment among first-generation, rural college goers. Rural Sociology, 86(2), 204–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12353
  • Wollschleger, J. (2019). Making it count: Using real-world projects for course assignments. Teaching Sociology, 47(4), 314–324. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X19864422