Many Peas, No Pods: Community, Diversity, and College Access in Rural America
Open Access
- Author:
- Koricich, Michael Andrew
- Graduate Program:
- Higher Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 18, 2013
- Committee Members:
- John Jesse Cheslock, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
John Jesse Cheslock, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Leticia Oseguera, Committee Member
Kai Arthur Schafft, Committee Member
Aaron Wachhaus, Special Member - Keywords:
- College access
College choice
rural education
community studies - Abstract:
- For decades, residents of rural communities have faced significant challenges in a number of important areas, particularly with regard to education. Students from these places have a history of lower educational attainment at both the K-12 and postsecondary levels, yet this population remains understudied. Existing research largely ignores the variation among rural places and the effects communities can have on students. This study seeks to uncover the diversity within rural communities and understand how this diversity influences educational pathways. Logistic regression is used to study the ways in which local industry and county-level economic conditions influence postsecondary attendance and institutional choice for rural students. Data are taken from three national data sets, which are then combined to conduct this analysis. Student data are taken from the restricted-use file of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, which also contains numeric codes for place of residence and postsecondary institutions attended. County traits such as local industry, persistent poverty, low employment, and sub-standard housing come from county typologies published in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. Lastly, data about the postsecondary institutions attended come from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. To help answer questions regarding community effects, this study first examines how postsecondary attendance and institutional choice is impacted by rurality in general, as well as how the effects of individual demographic, socioeconomic, and academic traits vary between the rural and non-rural contexts. Analysis of county-level industry and economic traits is conducted for the full sample and for rural and non-rural students separately. Further, local industry effects for rural students are examined at a regional level, and economic factors are studied across socioeconomic quartiles of students. The results of this study reveal clear disadvantages in postsecondary attendance, institutional level, selectivity, and other indicators resulting simply from living in a rural county. The effect of most student characteristics did not vary substantially between rural and non-rural areas, but the analysis did reveal one interesting finding: The relationship between college attendance and choice and a student’s socioeconomic status was weaker for rural students than for non-rural students. Some systematic variation across rural communities was revealed, as well. Rural students within manufacturing-dependent counties fared worse for a number of outcomes, and students from rural counties with persistent child poverty also fared poorly, especially when the county’s population also possessed low education levels. Overall, the results of this study provide the most thorough description to date of educational pathways for rural students and can be used to inform better education policy at all levels.