What percentage of rural high school students go to college? What percentage complete college? These questions are surprisingly difficult to answer, both nationwide and within each state, due to data limitations. To help answer them, this study builds a new dataset connecting K–12 records from the U.S. Department of Education with college enrollment records from the National Student Clearinghouse. Linking these data sources will allow for the calculation of college-going and college-completion rates for each school district, state, and the U.S. overall for the years 2013–14 through 2023-24.

The sample will include recent high school graduates ages 19 or younger. The analysis will compare variation within rural districts, as well as how rural districts compare to urban and suburban districts over time. The study will also explore how rural college-going and college completion rates vary across the country and by local economic and demographic characteristics. The findings can help establish national and state-wide baselines for rural college-going and college-completion rates. From this baseline, school districts, researchers, and policymakers can monitor, evaluate, and ultimately improve educational outcomes for rural students.

What do rural high school students think about the costs and benefits of higher education? This study employs an in-depth survey to understand rural young people’s attitudes and perspectives on postsecondary education, including their aspirations, expectations, and choice-making. The study will also explore who or what influences rural students’ decisions about plans after high school and how students weigh different factors in their decision about whether and where to attend college. This study seeks to highlight the diversity among rural settings and experiences and to provide actionable insights for practitioners in K–12 and higher education.

The sample will include 12^th-grade students attending rural and small-town high schools in three partner states: Alabama, Montana, and Wisconsin. The survey instrument will be co-designed with partners to ensure that questions are meaningful in local contexts and provide useful information. Survey results will also allow for the development and testing of theories for improving future research. A pilot survey is scheduled for the 2025-26 academic year, followed by a full survey fielded in Fall 2026; preliminary results will be shared with partners beginning in 2027.

Dual enrollment—or college courses taken in high school—has produced positive impacts on secondary and postsecondary outcomes for students. Dual enrollment can be especially important for rural students given that these students often have limited opportunities to take other advanced courses. The Rural Dual Enrollment Study seeks to understand dual enrollment programs in three rural southern states: Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

There are four planned sub-studies:

1. An implementation study across the three states that will use site visits and staff surveys to understand goals for dual enrollment and identify the components necessary for the implementation of high-quality dual enrollment in rural areas.
2. A descriptive study in Alabama of participation in dual enrollment courses offered by postsecondary institutions and the outcomes for participants.
3. A quantitative study in North Carolina looking at participation in and impacts for specific workforce-related dual enrollment pathways.
4. A quantitative study in Tennessee that includes descriptive analyses of dual enrollment participation in rural areas and an impact evaluation of the state’s dual enrollment scholarship program.

Community-based college access programs help young people get to and through college. Flexible services and trusted adults can support students’ academic, social, and financial preparation for college; many programs also partner with institutions of higher education to support students beyond admission. These organizations may be particularly important in rural communities and districts with limited resources, such as school counselors or access to advanced coursework.

To close the rural college access and attainment gap, policymakers and practitioners need a clear understanding of the role that rural-serving community-based college access programs play in supporting students’ college access and transitions. However, few studies have explored this role, and predominantly rural states often do not have the research capacity to gain this knowledge. This study has two goals:

• through a landscaping survey and follow-up interviews, it will examine the field of rural-serving college access programs in Oregon and Idaho, and
• through four case studies, it will identify qualities and practices that appear to positively influence student outcomes, including college acceptance, matriculation, persistence, graduation, and post-graduation outcomes (for instance, employment and graduate school enrollment).

State policymakers can use this information to identify areas of the state that are underserved by current policies and funding, support and promote best practices, and develop stakeholder networks to inform policies.

How do rural Black students in Alabama access and navigate through two-year and four-year institutions in Alabama? This study examines how rural Black students in Alabama access and navigate postsecondary education, addressing significant gaps in understanding about the intersection of rural identity, racial identity, and institutional choice among Black students from predominantly rural communities. This study seeks to: (1) position Black, rural high school students as narrators of their postsecondary education decision-making processes, and (2) center HBCU programs, practices, structures, and cultures that successfully recruit, support, retain, and graduate rural Black students who bring distinctive cultural assets, community connections, and place-based knowledge to their college experiences.

Guiding research questions:

• How do rural Black students perceive college access?
  • How do school systems support/hinder college access?
  • What barriers do rural Black students face when accessing postsecondary education?
• How do rural Black students in Alabama navigate postsecondary education in Alabama?
  • How do two-and four-year HBCUs support or hinder college matriculation?
  • How do two- and four-year predominantly White institutions support or hinder college matriculation?
  • What barriers do rural Black students face when navigating postsecondary education?

Montana’s Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education (OCHE) is expanding its evidence-based scholarship and student supports program called Montana 10. The Montana 10 model was designed to provide students with a combined set of targeted strategies that help them overcome barriers that may otherwise cause them to drop out of college. In particular, the comprehensive supports that make up Montana 10 were designed to meet the unique needs of Montana students, including students who are rural, low-income, and Native American. Montana 10 was also designed to meet the dual goals of student success and institutional success. In Montana’s small rural communities, where low rates of college enrollment, retention, and completion threaten institutional viability and economic development, Montana 10 aims to demonstrate that comprehensive student success programs are good for students and have a positive return on investment for the state and institutions.

Montana 10 includes 10 targeted, evidence-based strategies categorized into three groups:

• Financial support: tuition waivers, textbook stipends, and a monthly financial incentive contingent on program participation.
• Academic support: requiring a full-time schedule of 30 credits per year, corequisite math and writing courses that enroll students simultaneously in remedial and college-level courses for extra support, and tutoring.
• Student support: services that improve knowledge and sense of belonging, including case management advising, career development, orientation, and a first-year seminar.

To support the expansion of this program, MDRC will evaluate Montana 10 using a randomized controlled trial to determine whether the program is working as intended. This evaluation will support OCHE’s goal of serving more students, ensuring that program services are delivered effectively, and sustaining the program long term.

In addition to many of the same challenges college students face, such as costs and family and work obligations, rural nursing students face accessibility challenges due to the expected travel to school and clinical settings. Many institutions have focused on working with nursing students through the implementation of “train in place” models. This model intends to bring educational opportunities to rural communities and to support students’ ability to remain in their home communities while completing a nursing degree. Exploring the key elements of these emerging efforts will support rural-serving institutions across the country in developing and implementing effective new models of place-based education in high-need workforce fields.

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) is conducting a multisite qualitative study to explore how institutions in the Mountain West, with a specific focus on supporting rural students, develop effective nursing programs to help students obtain a nursing degree and remain in their home rural community. Due to the deeply contextual nature of this issue, WICHE is using a case study approach that seeks to identify critical elements of program design, implementation, and programmatic outcomes.

The study will seek to answer such questions as: How do nursing programs develop effective strategies to support rural students in the Mountain West? How does remaining in one’s home community support a sense of belonging for nursing students? How do institutional supports, such as financial incentives, support rural students’ ability to persist? What are key characteristics of institutional-clinical partnerships in rural settings?

To create a cohesive suite of research findings and best practices that will be readily usable for policy and practice, a synthesis of the Center’s research will be conducted. This work will promote learning across research studies, identify common themes occurring in multiple states, and support the needs of rural practitioners for actionable best practices. While the specific topics for this work will be driven by the research studies, the following research questions guide this area of inquiry:

1. What common themes emerge from across the studies? For example, what are local practitioners and state partners raising most often as hindrances or supports for college access and completion programming?
2. What lessons are emerging to inform best practices and support collaborative action among communities, high schools, colleges, and nonprofits to drive greater postsecondary completion in rural communities?
3. How are local partners using the Center’s research efforts to support, reinforce, or reanalyze their college access and success strategies?