One reason fewer rural high school grads go to college: colleges don't recruit them; that's changing - Entrepreneur Generations

Only 59 percent of rural high school grads attend college, compared to 67 percent of suburban grads and 62 percent of urban grads. One big reason why: colleges don't recruit rural grads as much, Aaron Gettinger reports for The Hechinger Report, a nonpartisan education publication.

It's partly a matter of time management and limited resources. "When we think about an urban high school, a college recruiter can hit 1,500 students at a time," Andrew Koricich, an assistant professor of education at Appalachian State University, told Gettinger. "To do that in a rural area, you may have to go to 10 high schools."

It's also about money: since rural households tend to be lower-income, rural students more frequently need financial aid. "New research backs this up. Colleges and universities prefer to recruit at high schools in communities where the average family income is above $100,000, while forgoing visits to those where it’s $70,000 or lower, according to a study of 140 institutions conducted by researchers at UCLA and the University of Arizona," Gettinger reports. "They also concentrate disproportionately on private schools. Rural areas usually have neither wealthy families nor private schools."

But ensuring rural teens get college degrees could mean a more educated rural workforce and improved rural economy. "Providing greater postsecondary opportunities for rural residents isn’t simply a matter of equity or moral obligation — it’s a matter of continued national prosperity," Koricich told Gettinger.

Colleges and universities are trying to do better, in general--some to great effect. To some extent it's because they want a wider cross-section of America represented in the student body, but also because college enrollment nationwide has declined in recent years and they need more students, Gettinger reports. Universities are also aware of the reputation they have in rural areas as being liberal bastions, and want to counteract that with increased outreach.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2UqfG0v One reason fewer rural high school grads go to college: colleges don't recruit them; that's changing - Entrepreneur Generations

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