Out of the Education Desert: How Limited Local College Options are Associated with Inequity in Postsecondary Opportunities

Abstract

The United States has a stratified hierarchy of colleges and universities. The consequences of this stratification include large disparities in the returns to higher education between the levels of postsecondary institutions, and gaps by race and income in terms of where students enroll that, together, have the potential to reproduce longstanding social inequality. We study one potential cause associated with enrollment disparities, the uneven geographic distribution of colleges around the United States. Specifically, we examine the college application and enrollment decisions of students who live in education deserts—geographic areas where students either do not have access to a broad-access, public college option (access deserts), or where they do not have access to a college that is academically matched to their academic credentials (match deserts). We find that the students in access deserts are more likely to apply to and enroll in colleges farther away from home than the students who have more readily available college options. In contrast, students in match deserts are less likely to apply to and enroll in academically-matched institutions. We discuss the equity implications of these findings and make recommendations for policy and future research.

Well-Placed: The Geography of Opportunity and High School Effects on College Attendance

“…Future research may investigate potential mechanisms that explain how geographic factors influence college attendance. Our finding that proximity to colleges is associated with college attendance is in harmony with findings from multiple decades of research (Klasik, Blagg, and Pekor 2018;Lapid 2016;Rouse 1995;Turley 2009), but there is relatively little knowledge of why this relationship exists. Perhaps the mechanism is that nearby colleges allow individuals to pursue a bachelor's degree without weakening existing familial and social ties and, in many cases, without forgoing the financial break of living with family.…”

“…This recent wave of studies on how high schools impact college attendance has coincided with the proliferation of a separate literature that finds college attendance depends on the characteristics of youths' spatial locations, a set of characteristics that we call geographic context. This research has demonstrated how, for example, individuals are more likely to attend college if they live near one (Klasik, Blagg, and Pekor 2018;Turley 2009), implying that the unequal geographic distribution of postsecondary institutions is relevant for policy and inequality (Hillman 2016). Others have emphasized the relevance of local labor markets, noting that youths are less likely to attend college if they live in an area with high unemployment rates (Hillman and Orians 2013) and many jobs that do not require a college degree (Bozick 2009).…”

A Call for Dreamkeepers in Rural United States

“…It seems that rural students enroll in colleges that are less selective than they are academically eligible to attend, a phenomenon known as academic undermatching (Freeman, 2016;Hillman, 2016). Also, rural students frequently choose college majors that reflect careers in their local communities and express a need to obtain jobs quickly due to financial constraints (Hillman, 2016;Klasik, Blagg, & Pekor, 2018).…”

“…Specifically, parental influence is deemed the primary factor that determines college attendance for rural students (Nelson, 2016;Tieken, 2016). Rural students with parents who have completed college, who have higher SES, and who are White have more exposure to college information and preparatory programs (Carnevale & Strohl, 2013;Hillman, 2016;Klasik et al, 2018). However, Nelson's (2016) qualitative study of 30 successful rural college graduates found that, despite the inability of noncollege educated parents to help offer college knowledge directly, students reported their parents offered encouragement and material support that helped fuel their college aspirations.…”

Gender Equity in STEM in Higher Education

“…The majority of U.S. students attend colleges close to home Miller, 2012;Tate, 2008); more than half of college students enroll within about 20 miles of their permanent home address (Hillman, 2017). Racially minoritized students are more likely to choose colleges close to home due to family and financial reasons (Klasik et al, 2018;Ovink & Beazey, 2011). The inequity happens when communities with a more racially minoritized population have more two-year colleges but fewer four-year universities .…”