ACCT Expands Initiative to Strengthen America’s Rural Community Colleges
Next phase of project to establish a nationwide network, offer technical support for federal funding opportunities.
Read moreThe Rural Community College Landscape
According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are over 260 rural community colleges in the United States which educate nearly 670,000 students a year. Rural community colleges provide a number of vital functions. In addition to offering educational opportunities and vocational training, many represent the largest employer in their communities. In order to best serve these colleges and their students, it is critical that we understand their successes and their challenges, and develop policy solutions to support rural institutions and their communities in achieving academic and economic prosperity.
Learn moreAbout the Strengthening Rural Community Colleges Initiative
With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ACCT assessed the needs of rural community colleges, focusing specifically on five states: California, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Texas. While the initiative focused on five states, we collected feedback from rural community colleges across the nation.
As part of this initiative we:
Research
the needs facing rural communities and their institutions
Convene
trustees, presidents, and community stakeholders in each state
Advocate
for rural institutions and recommend policies that support the long-term success of students, institutions, and communities.
This 18 month initiative culminated in a report including five state profiles, state and federal policy recommendations, and an examination of what it means to be a rural institution.
The exact number of rural community colleges in the United States varies based on who is counting. According to the Department of Education, there are 260 rural community colleges in the United States. The Rural Community College Alliance (RCCA) puts the number between 600 and 800. This wide disparity can be attributed in part to disagreements over the definition of rural. At the federal level, there are more than a dozen different definitions of rurality, based on a variety of factors, from population density to geographic isolation, to socioeconomic indicators. The wide variety of definitions is in many ways appropriate, as it underscores the fact that rural America is not a monolith; however, the different standards complicate assessing rural community college needs. Below you can see the large variation between the two definitions of rurality.
Rural Definition 1
Rural Definition 2
Media Highlights
Public News Service | Rural CA Community Colleges Move to Combat Poverty, Digital Divide
The Daily Yonder | Rural Community Colleges See Slump in Enrollment Due to the Pandemic
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education | Report Highlights Challenges Facing Rural Communities
Inside Higher Ed | Problems Facing Rural Community Colleges
ABC 36 News | Rural community college students face more challenges: Study
NPR Utah | Rural Community College Enrollment Took A Huge Hit From Pandemic
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Read moreNew ACCT Paper Assesses Rural College Needs, Showcases Innovative Solutions to Making Do with Limited Resources
The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) today released Strengthening Rural Community Colleges: Innovations and Opportunities, a paper that details the needs of rural colleges throughout the United States.
Read moreOur Team
About ACCT
The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) is a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States and beyond.
These community professionals, business officials, public policy leaders, and leading citizens offer their time and talent to serve on the governing boards of this century’s most innovative higher education institutions-community, junior, and technical colleges-and make decisions that affect more than 1,200 colleges and over 11 million students annually.
For more information
Contact Us
Contact Details
Association of Community College Trustees, 1101 17th St NW #300, Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-775-4667 | Toll Free: (866) 895-2228
Email: acctinfo@acct.org
Released Report
Strengthening Rural Community Colleges: Innovations and Opportunities details the needs and challenges of rural community colleges throughout the United States.