“Does It Identify Me?”: The Multiple Identities of College Students from Rural Areas

Abstract

The understanding of identities is an important component to understanding students and their experiences in educational contexts, especially in postsecondary education. There is limited information about the identities of college students from rural areas because this student population is often neglected as a distinct group in higher education literature. This article details a study utilizing narrative inquiry to explore the identities of three college students who graduated from high schools in rural areas. The findings suggest that these students’ races and ethnicities, genders and biological sexes, and sexual orientations were their salient social identities. Rurality was not a prominent identity, but their perceptions and experiences were shaped by their rural backgrounds. Rural students’ places of origin and their multiple identities, therefore, should not be ignored within P-20 education.

Reconsidering Rural-Nonrural College Enrollment Gaps: The Role of Socioeconomic Status in Geographies of Opportunity

“…Barriers include lower expectations from teachers and counselors compared to white students, confusion surrounding financial aid and student loans, and high concentrations of poverty (Griffin et al, 2011 ; Irvin et al, 2016 ; Means et al, 2016 ). These factors may be part of the reason that rural students’ racial and ethnic identities are often more salient for them than a rural identity (Cain & Willis, 2022 ). Communities of color have consistently exhibited the highest poverty rates in rural America, with the Black poverty rate at 32%, followed by AIAN (31%) and Hispanic (24.5%) poverty rates, compared to the white poverty rate of 13.5% (USDA, 2018 ).…”

Strengthening rural college student career development

“…In studying this problem of practice, a qualitative action research methodology was utilized (Stringer, 2014). Rural college students are a non-dominant population that is often understudied, overlooked, or overgeneralized (Cain & Willis, 2022). Therefore, it was critically important for this research to take a holistic approach and gather rich representations of rural students' lived experiences (Creswell, 2013;Jencik, 2011).…”

“…Rurality is often portrayed in a monolithic light, but this does not mean that rural people are identical (Means, 2019;Cain & Willis, 2022;McNamee, 2019). For instance, research on Black and Latinx rural youth highlights the intersectionality of race and rural identity and encourages educators and policymakers to consider these dynamics as a way to advance equity (Hallmark et al, 2023;Marlow-McCowin et al, 2020;Means, 2019).…”

“…Given the economic pragmatism often required in lower income communities, an appreciation for common sense over intellectual ability has also been observed (Kryst et al, 2018). This mindset has undoubtedly served rural populations well in day-to-day life, but it has also created an environment where rural youth may be more likely to receive messages that higher education is not something for people with their background (Cain & Willis, 2022).…”

“…The same members of a community interact on a variety of levels (in professional, school, entertainment, and community events settings) thereby deepening connections and further increasing connections and access to the capital found in this network. Cain and Willis (2022) acknowledge that urbanormativity and negative perceptions of rural life as backwards and unsophisticated can create a complicated self-perception of identity. If a rural people continually hear that they live in the "middle of nowhere, [it] implies that the people living there are 'nowhere people.'"…”