Opinion: Rural students need a level playing field to access 4-year colleges and higher degrees

This is an opinion piece. We value the diverse opinions of our readers and we welcome robust, wide-ranging thoughts and ideas on subjects relevant to Mendocino County. The following opinion is not representative of The Mendocino Voice, its publisher, editor or staff. Opinion pieces can be sent to info@mendovoice.com.

This opinion piece was written by Dr. Gerardo E. de los Santos, vice president for Community College Relations at National University, and Dr. Timothy Karas, president of Mendocino College.

Transfer enrollment is on the rise, growing by 4.4 percent this year, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. In total, transfers have grown by 8 percent since 2020, signaling a steady rebound from the sharp declines seen during the pandemic.  

That’s encouraging news for students seeking affordable, flexible pathways to a degree, as well as for institutions focused on expanding access and supporting completion. But while the momentum is worth celebrating, not all colleges are benefiting equally.  

Many of the country’s small, rural institutions remain on the margins of transfer conversations, partnerships, and policy priorities. Here in California, for instance, 60 percent of the community colleges with the lowest transfer rates are rural.  

From low-income students in Appalachia to Latino learners in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, rural colleges are lifelines for students facing barriers like poverty, food and housing insecurity, and limited access to transportation and technology. Yet these institutions often lack the support, visibility and resources of larger community college systems.  

Any serious effort to expand transfer must include rural colleges as equal partners. In a moment when more students are finally moving forward, we can’t afford to leave these learners behind. 

Across the United States, roughly one in five Americans reside in a rural area, underscoring just how many potential learners come from settings far outside metropolitan hubs. Research shows that rural students are vastly underrepresented in postsecondary enrollment and completion.  

While they graduate high school at higher levels than the national average — with 80 percent earning a high school diploma — just 19 percent of rural Americans hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. When rural students do enroll, they are more likely to start at two-year colleges, less likely to transition into bachelor’s programs, and often face unique geographic and resource challenges.  

Local community colleges are the primary route to and through higher education for these learners. But these institutions frequently operate with fewer resources, smaller teams and limited capacity to build and sustain the kinds of formal transfer pathways that more urban or suburban community college systems might take for granted.  

Advisors routinely juggle multiple roles, and limited staffing means rural colleges may struggle to participate in statewide transfer initiatives or negotiate articulation agreements that ensure students’ credits actually count at four-year universities. 

Geography compounds the challenge.  

Many rural learners live far from their campuses or potential transfer destinations, commute long distances and rely on inconsistent broadband connections. Even as online and hybrid programs expand, they are not equally accessible everywhere, and the very learners who stand to benefit the most often face the steepest barriers to using them.  

This is the digital divide in action: in many rural communities, reliable devices, accessible tech support and affordable high-speed internet remain out of reach for too many students. Community college leaders we work with, especially in rural areas, consistently point to digital access and the cost of broadband as ongoing obstacles to persistence and transfer. 

Beyond logistical hurdles, rural students confront a transfer process that is often complex, confusing, and poorly aligned with their needs. Credits may not transfer cleanly, support systems can be disjointed, and receiving institutions may offer little onboarding tailored to adult learners, part-time students, or other kinds of learners disproportionately found at rural colleges.  

Higher education’s response should match the complexity of the challenge. Colleges and universities need to engage rural institutions not as afterthoughts but as essential partners whose students deserve clear, efficient and well-supported pathways.  

Some universities have stepped up—and Mendocino College students benefit 

The good news is that universities are already proving what’s possible when rural transfer is treated as a priority. National University recently partnered with Mendocino College, a rural community college. Together, we are expanding access to affordable, flexible bachelor’s degree pathways for students in Mendocino, Lake, and surrounding counties, where educational opportunities have historically been limited. 

In California, statewide agreements have long been designed to make transfer more predictable — including the Associate Degree for Transfer (AD-T) between community colleges and the California State University system. More recently, the state established an intersegmental general education framework across the University of California, CSU, and California Community Colleges: Cal-GETC, the California General Education Transfer Curriculum. California Community Colleges also have articulation officers who help facilitate course and degree transfers, so that students can understand which credits apply and toward what programs. 

Meanwhile, the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas at Cossatot in rural southwest Arkansas are collaborating to create transfer degree programs that allow community college students to complete their associate degrees locally and then transition seamlessly into a bachelor’s program at the University of Arkansas.  

However, even with these statewide collaborations, geography remains a defining ingredient in transfer. In many urban and suburban areas, students have options to remain in their communities while enrolling in bachelor’s and even master’s programs. Rural students are often left with a different reality: the only path to a BA or MA may require leaving home — relocating away from family, work and community responsibilities.  

That matters because rural regions — like their urban and suburban counterparts — depend on jobs that increasingly require bachelor’s and master’s degrees, particularly in fields such as health care, social services, and teaching. Yet rural areas often lack on-the-ground BA/MA programs. Flexible online programs can help residents work and live locally while pursuing the degrees needed for critical roles, but only if the digital divide is addressed so that broadband, devices and tech support are truly accessible and affordable. 

Transfer enrollment may be rising, but real progress will require looking beyond aggregate gains to ask who is truly benefiting. Higher education should treat rural colleges as full partners, invest in their capacity, and design transfer systems that acknowledge the realities of rural life. Unless rural learners are brought fully into the fold, the recovery in transfer enrollment will be a partial one.  

At a time when more students are finally moving forward, institutions must ensure that college success reaches every community, no matter where they are on a map.