Morgan County, Tennessee, is a rural community shaped by strong relationships, deep attachment to place and a shared commitment to its future. Its public lands and tourism economy are part of that story, as are the intergenerational ties, civic commitment and local institutions that hold the community together.
Like many rural areas, Morgan County also faces real economic challenges: More than half of its population struggles to afford basic household necessities, and 15 percent of its residents live below the poverty line.
That’s why the efforts of Roane State Community College to reshape what student success means are so important. Helping individual students earn credentials is not enough: The school also aims to strengthen the long-term economic vitality of the entire region.
In many areas, community colleges are the main driver of economic mobility. By expanding access to postsecondary education, creating clearer pathways into sustainable local careers and working alongside employers, schools and community organizations, they help ensure that residents can build stable futures close to home. They need more support.
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Rural higher education has never been a high national priority, even though these institutions are not only educators but also employers, workforce hubs and cultural centers. Now, America’s roughly 1,000 rural colleges and regional universities are facing distinct challenges, including declining enrollment and, among their students, persistent poverty, long travel distances, limited choice in local industries and uneven broadband access that restricts educational opportunities.
Economic pressures are already shaping what institutions can offer, causing reductions in programs and constraints on capacity.
At the same time, these schools must stretch every dollar to address not only the academic needs of their students but also their basic needs: food and housing security, child care, transportation and more; there is a great need to learn and share what is working to help these schools achieve their missions.
Successful rural community colleges are building pathways to help students find work that leads to sustainable careers at a time of significant economic change. They are redesigning programs to align with emerging industries, from advanced manufacturing to information technology. They are partnering with business and community organizations to identify opportunities for future local jobs and are reaching beyond their walls to support out-of-school learners. They are creating dual-enrollment opportunities for high school students and are supporting adult learners looking for sustainable careers close to home.
Roane State embodies this approach by working in partnership with mayors, school leaders, local companies and community groups to bolster the economic prospects of the entire region, from emerging industry and digital jobs to health care and computer technology.
Elsewhere, rural colleges are taking similar initiatives: At Louisiana State University at Eunice, digital skills badges and a health care partnership are linking coursework to local careers. Columbia-Greene Community College in New York offers stronger student supports and microcredentials tied to labor market demand. Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College has expanded training through partnerships with workforce agencies and community organizations.
Although rural students complete high school at a higher rate than the national average, reports show that only 29 percent of young adults (18- to 24-year-olds) in rural areas enroll in college compared to 42 percent of those in suburban areas and 48 percent in urban areas. Research also shows a 12-percentage-point gap between bachelor’s degree attainment in rural areas and urban communities.
At the same time, rural employers struggle to fill critical roles in teaching, health care and other skilled fields like accounting. Many rural communities lose college-educated residents to larger cities, making long-term economic development more difficult.
And yet there is little evidence about what strategies are most effective in supporting institutions as they attempt to meet the challenges of declining enrollment, slowing population growth, workforce needs and persistent poverty, and no readily accessible national data source that reports annual college attendance or completion rates among rural high school students by state.
Ultimately, we don’t know which homegrown innovations are making a difference for rural students. Too often, policymakers leave rural practitioners and policymakers to guess what works best.
That’s why we welcome a historic investment in the National Rural Higher Education Research Center, which will evaluate “what works” for rural students and colleges. By partnering with colleges, state agencies and rural communities across the country over the next five years, it will identify and evaluate strategies that build on rural strengths to expand opportunity, increase credential completion and strengthen local economies.
The Center’s research will explore how rural students transition from high school, choose institutions, persist and enter the workforce, while recognizing that different rural regions face different challenges and opportunities. All studies are designed to suggest timely best practices that educators can bring to their own campuses.
Achieving the Dream is a Center affiliate organization. With a network of more than 300 community colleges, including a large percentage of rural and Tribal Colleges, we will create information-sharing channels between colleges, strengthen partnerships and help find practical solutions that work for students and communities.
The goal is practical, actionable research that helps institutions understand what is likely to work for their students and regions — not simply what worked somewhere else.
Meredith Archer Hatch is director of network relations for Achieving the Dream. Alyssa Ratledge is senior research associate in MDRC’s postsecondary education policy area and leads MDRC’s rural higher education work.
Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org.
This story about rural community colleges was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.
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