Rural Students in Higher Education: From College Preparation and Enrollment to Experiences and Persistence

ABSTRACT

The National Rural Education Association’s (NREA) 2016–2021 10 Research Priorities include college enrollment and preparation as well as experiences and persistence patterns for rural populations. Recent years witnessed increases in educational research, practice, and policy, around rural college students, yet these efforts focus predominantly on K-12 college preparation and enrollment, not postsecondary experiences and persistence for this population. Using integrative literature review methods, authors synthesize, relate, and contrast 41 pieces of scholarship on the nuanced experiences and persistence of rural students in higher education. Based on this review, a discussion is presented that summarizes, critiques, and offers insights into future research priorities related to rural students’ postsecondary experiences and persistence (complicated and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic). Implications for education practice and policy are offered to empower rural K-12 schools, community members, families, higher education practitioners, and policymakers to support rural students prior to and during their college years. Authors conclude that illuminating the benefits of rural students’ college attainment to rural communities, educational institutions, and the students themselves and provide a call to action to focus on the postsecondary experiences and persistence of students from rural areas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ty C. McNamee

Ty C. McNamee is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at The University of Mississippi. Growing up as a gay, poor and working-class student in rural Wyoming influenced Ty’s research interests. He conducts research on higher education access, success, and equity for rural students, particularly those from poor and working-class backgrounds and those who are queer, as well as college teaching and learning and faculty development at rural postsecondary institutions. Outside research, Ty co-founded the Rural Education and Healthcare Coalition, a Teachers College, Columbia University network focused on rural education and healthcare programming and research. He also serves in the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Ty holds his EdD in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, MA in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Connecticut, and BA in English from the University of Wyoming.

Karen M. Ganss

Karen M. Ganss is the Assistant Director of Partnership Programs with the University of Colorado Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science, where she supports regional university partnerships on the Western Slope of Colorado. Her research focuses on the experiences of students from rural and small towns in higher education settings, a passion which stems from her upbringing in the rural San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado. Karen holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western Colorado University and a master’s degree in college student services administration from Oregon State University.