Rural and Small Town America: A Data-Driven, Strategic Approach to Prospect Identification and College Recruitment

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1 Rural and Small Town America: A Data-Driven, Strategic Approach to Prospect Identification and College Recruitment Dr. Andrew Moe Associate Dean & Director of Access Swarthmore College

2 Session Aims and Goals To review research and data related to students coming from rural and small town areas To examine an institutional approach to increase access for rural students To discuss challenges, barriers, and assets of rural students To define recruitment strategies that institutions can employ for rural and small town students To brainstorm new strategies to boost admission and enrollment for rural students in college admissions

3 School barriers: Lack of college-going culture Few college graduate mentors Social barriers: Community/values & religious identities Reluctance to travel away from home Failure Story Family obligations Financial Barriers: Barriers to College Access State and federal grants remain stagnant Lack of net price awareness causes sticker shock

4 Research Challenges of rural v. urban students Rural population more educated than previous decades, but challenges persist Rural students have lowest postsecondary participation rate, particularly those from low-income families, compared to urban and suburban students Rural students have less access to AP courses than urban peers - 47% of rural districts offer no APs, compared to 3-5 % of urban/suburban

5 About 59 million people - or 20% of the U.S. - live in rural areas, and 29 million people live in small towns. U.S. Census defines three types of geographic areas: Urbanized area - 50,000+ people Research Urban cluster - 2,500 to 50,000 people Rural - all other areas (less than 2,500 people) The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) defines school locations as: City - territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city Suburb - territory inside an urbanized area but outside a principal city Town - territory inside an urban cluster Rural - territory outside of urban clusters/urbanized areas and a certain distance away

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7 Data-Driven, Strategic Approach Who should be defined as rural and small town America? Used US Census and NCES/IPEDS data to divide the country and used NCES school assignments Removed all City and Suburban schools Removed all public and private boarding schools Mapped all Town and Rural schools using prospect data

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11 Data-Driven, Strategic Approach Who should be defined as rural and small town America? Used US Census and NCES/IPEDS data to divide the country and used NCES school assignments Removed all City and Suburban schools Removed all public and private boarding schools Mapped all Town and Rural schools using prospect data Employed the sniff test - what do we feel comfortable in defining as rural and small town?

12 Data-Driven, Strategic Approach Swarthmore chose: All Town-based schools - from fringe to remote distances away from cities and towns. Two of the three rural-based school categories - distant and remote rural schools. Chose not to categorize rural-fringe schools based on their close proximity to urban areas (closer than town-fringe schools) Based on this methodology: Identified 7,572 public and charter high schools in America 8,400 seniors last year who fit Swarthmore search parameters attended these schools.

13 Private schools are largely left out of the current methodology - exploring ways to include independent and religious schools Boarding schools excluded Limitations Never perfect - are we including students from small, wealthy bedroom communities with more resources? Perhaps. Are we excluding truly rural and small town students? Most likely. Rural and small town students are not homogenous, though current outreach plans treat them as such.

14 A Recruitment Proposal for Rural & Small Town Students

15 Small Towns at Swarthmore College s proposed initiative to ensure students from rural and small towns know they are represented at Swarthmore Visibility campaign - outward facing Communication campaign - series of s for students and counselors aimed at raising visibility profile of rural and small town students and providing helpful information Incorporate webinar-type information sessions and other resources for counselors Inform readers about geographic location of the student during the review process

16 Small Towns at Swarthmore Showcase existing students from rural areas on campus Act affirmatively in selecting our Discover Swarthmore fly-in program students Invitations to all rural and small town students and their counselors

17 Changes in 2017 Small Towns at Swarthmore launch: Summer/Fall 2017 Used rural zip code mapping to include all rural students in broader access initiatives Invited students in rural zip codes or rural counties to Discover Swarthmore application process All students who applied to Discover Swarthmore received an application fee waiver Visited more rural schools, especially in PA, starting last year Building relationships with CBOs that serve rural students (i.e., College Advising Corps, Palhouse Pathways, Ayers Foundation, Lenfest Scholars)

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19 Rural Recruitment Funnel Fall 2016 Fall 2017 Percent Change Prospects 4,569* 8,380 NA Inquiries 2,694 3, % Applications % Admits % Matrics % *Data incomplete

20 So what else? Participating in CBO-hosted webinars on rural students Regional conferences, such as ConnectTN Conference Increased social media presence Commitment to travel for prospective/admitted student events On-Campus Student Support Using a rural/small town lens for policies and practices Educating faculty, Dean of students/student affairs, and financial aid Recognize intersecting identities

21 What do you do? Ideas?

22 Questions & Comments? Andrew