by Amanda Perry Miller
In a Harvard Business Review article titled "Do Colleges Truly Understand What Students Want from Them?" from 2019, authors Michael B. Horn and Bob Moesta posit that colleges have failed to meet the expectations that students have for higher education. Looking around the landscape of higher education, it seems that the chasm has only widened: a recent article from Bloomberg reports that 39 million Americans drop out of college without finishing their degree, and a majority of Americans now consider a college degree a questionable investment. Students expect more from their college experience: better job outcomes, more financial support, better student services, and increased understanding of today's challenges… but how can higher education institutions rise to this challenge? The answer may lie in a surprising place: rural colleges.
Rural higher education institutions often find themselves at the forefront of innovation, pioneering creative solutions in order to support their students. In a recent panel by the ACE Women's Leadership Speaker Series, Leading in Rural America, several leaders of colleges and universities in rural areas shared their perspectives on how their institutions have risen to this challenge. The leaders on the panel stressed the importance of tailoring their institutions to meet the holistic needs of their students: in rural America, this often includes addressing issues like transportation, internet access, and food security.
Dr. Rachel Desmarais' campus (Vance-Granville Community College), for example, has partnered with the rural transportation authority in their area, giving community members the ability to come to campus when necessary (both for classes and to access reliable internet), since many in her community do not have access to reliable transportation. Dr. Ardis Eschenberg also spoke of the difficulty that students face in accessing stable and reliable internet; to that end, Windward Community College has created a laptop loan program, added additional hotspots throughout campus, and increased their outdoor internet access.
In addition to these concerns, many of the panelists spoke to the importance of providing resources to students who are food insecure. For example, although Dr. Desmarais' community is based in an agricultural community, food deserts still exist, so her campus has taken the initiative to not only have a food pantry on campus (which also ships food to their other campuses), but also partners with local farmers to supply students with fresh produce to help address these challenges. Her campus also provides opportunities to teach students how to prepare this food. Dr. Eschenberg's college, during the COVID-19 pandemic, not only provided a free meal plan for students, but also started packaging a week's worth of meals at the time, so students wouldn't be forced to make multiple costly trips to campus in order to get food.
Another significant barrier to students in rural areas is "childcare deserts", so speakers on the panel highlighted the necessity of providing reliable and affordable childcare for students, faculty, and staff. Students at Vance-Granville Community College, Dr. Desmarais says, want drop-in childcare, so her college has had to get creative: they've partnered with local organizations, like the Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, and the Salvation Army to meet that challenge. Dr. Tiffany Sanderson agreed; at her college, they have a Child Development Program that students can earn credentials in, and "EduCare," an on-campus daycare center that is open to students, staff, faculty members, and community members.
Dr. Tiffany Sanderson also brought up the role that colleges can play in helping students find full-time or part-time employment. This, she asserts, is not only necessary in order to curtail the financial burden of higher education, but also to give students the hands-on experience that leads to better career outcomes. This sentiment was echoed by Dr. Eschenberg, whose college "worked with our local business partners throughout our side of the island to create college-friendly workplaces, where they would hire our students and they agreed to be supportive of their college education, let them have some flexibility during midterms and finals, and let their counselor know if they notice something going on."
As Dr. Eschenberg pointed out, the value of education remains high in post-COVID America, but so does the need for basic essentials like housing and food. As we grapple with the widening gap between student expectations and the reality of higher education, it becomes clear that the holistic support offered by these rural colleges is not only commendable but necessary. The call to action is clear: those of us at other colleges need to take inspiration from these rural institutions and think outside the traditional educational framework so that college truly becomes a transformative and worthwhile experience for all.
This article is republished from HigherEdJobs® under a Creative Commons license.