Students from rural areas historically struggle with college access. And as the coronavirus has shut down high school and college campuses across the country, educators are anxious about their enrollment rates.
Approximately 3 million Americans live more than 25 miles from a public university and lack access to high-speed internet, according to a 2018 Urban Institute report. Meanwhile, about 30% of adults ages 18-24 enrolled in postsecondary education come from rural areas, latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows.
“I worry a lot about losing those young people,” said Dreama Gentry, executive director of Partners for Education at Berea College in Kentucky. Rural high school graduates were already at a disadvantage “because of a lack of access, geographic isolation and a lack of investment in rural schools in general.”
In many ways, Gentry’s program, which focuses on rural academic success in the Appalachian Mountains, is on the front lines of what the coronavirus might mean for incoming rural college students. The college partners with public schools in 47 school districts in Eastern Kentucky, staffing them with trained tutors and academic counselors.
Gentry’s staff has been working to smooth rural students’ transitions to college, setting them up with summer bridge programs, campus visits and more. But “now all of that is just unknown,” she said. “And they may not have anyone in their direct family who can help them process that, because they’re probably first in their family who was even thinking about college.”
Given the economic impact of the coronavirus, she’s concerned some students won’t be thinking about college come fall. Rural households have a lower median household income than their urban counterparts, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, which doesn’t bode well for their finances during a crisis.
Gentry increasingly sees teenagers in her area working. The workers who deliver her groceries are now high school students, she said. With parents potentially losing their jobs, she expects rural students to feel extra pressure to stay home to supplement their families’ incomes.
