Serving the Whole Student: Addressing Nonacademic Barriers Facing Rural Community College Students

Abstract

This chapter offers strategies for creating support resources for students who face nonacademic barriers such as housing insecurity, food insecurity, lack of transportation and dependable childcare, and the need for mental health care and illness. These strategies should be viewed as ideas to help retain students and create lasting partnerships between rural community colleges and community organizations.

Behavioural health outcomes in veterans compared to nonveterans by rural and urban areas in Alabama, 2015–2018

“…While community colleges often advertise mental health services, those in rural communities may experience challenges with staffing, causing them to rely on unpaid interns. However, this has caused some rural campuses to look towards shifting towards support groups and group therapy opportunities to provide mental health services (Waters‐Bailey et al., 2019). This may be particularly attractive to student veterans who wish to engage with other veterans and may encourage more open disclosure.…”

An introduction to rural minority‐serving community colleges

“…Over 60% of RMSCCs are considered highly rural suggesting high levels of geographical challenges for people that reside in their districts. For rural college students, this translates to an even more heightened impact of barriers such as food and housing insecurity, transportation, childcare, and mental health needs (Waters‐Bailey et al., 2019). As all community colleges anticipate financial challenges moving out of the COVID‐19 pandemic, rural institutions are predicted to be the most impacted (Bray et al., 2023).…”

“…As all community colleges anticipate financial challenges moving out of the COVID‐19 pandemic, rural institutions are predicted to be the most impacted (Bray et al., 2023). At the same time, rural students that rely on these institutions face unique challenges in overcoming barriers to student success including food and housing insecurity, transportation, childcare, and mental health needs (Waters‐Bailey et al., 2019).…”

The urban community college: An overview

“…Scholars have embraced this place‐based model of studying the community college, especially in rural America, where resources are limited and few students. Studies by a number of authors have portrayed the challenges and opportunities facing rural community colleges (Hardy & Katsinas, 2007; Thornton, 2019; Waters‐Bailey et al., 2019), yet this same level of attention has not been directed to their counterparts in urban areas. Drawing on data from ProQuest, of the over 49,000 doctoral dissertations written about community colleges, only 3,686 (7.5%) have focused on some aspect of urban community colleges.…”