Navigating Home: examining rural students and their college choices in an age of college undermatch

Abstract

Since 2014, rising college undermatch rates have been a national concern for colleges and universities in America. Previous literature tells us that rural students tend to undermatch at higher rates than other populations. However, rural students are among the least researched populations in higher education today. In this study, I researched both the factors that contribute to rural student college choice and the ways in which counselors influence and inform students about these factors. As a result, I created an optimal college choice model with consideration to the cost/benefit analyses that rural students interviewed undertake. My research found that rural students were duly averse to short-term social costs and long-term costs associated with loans. Counselors had an important impact on students but had biases that ultimately affected their student's tastes and interests in college. The research carried out in this project generates future hypotheses about rural student college choice in the face of rising college undermatch concerns and provides recommendations to school districts and higher education institutions to better help rural students in their college decision-making.