By Nick Fouriezos for the Mile Markers newsletter via The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Lily Böhlke for Commonweath News Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

Rural students are the least likely to attend college or earn a degree - a problem exacerbated in recent years by persistent shortages of both rural educators and rural guidance counselors.

"The pandemic has pushed college and career readiness to the back burner, if it's even on the stove at all anymore," says Rick Dalton, the CEO and President of CFES Brilliant Pathways.

Short for "College for Every Student," his New England-based nonprofit trained more than 2,500 College and Career readiness advisors in 2021, including teachers and parents, secretaries and coaches, school bus drivers and cafeteria workers.

The concept: If rural areas can't staff up to address counselor shortages, they can at least equip their current educators with the knowledge they need to offer counsel.

"It takes a village," Dalton says. "Let's make sure the village has the knowledge it needs."

These "quasi-counselors," as Dalton calls them, attend four 30-minute virtual courses, learning about everything from FAFSA completion to nontraditional careers within growing fields like health care.

They graduate with a professional certificate from Middlebury College and have continued access to online resources with the latest information about college and financial aid.

That education is especially valuable when you consider that only about 25% of the counselors at high schools have received any professional development around college advising.

"Everybody who has contact with our kids needs to be delivering that message," Dalton says. "You can do it: Here's how."

Dalton has ambitious goals to expand the program, hoping to train 50,000 advisers in the next five years - a goal that's been made more attainable by the widespread adoption of virtual instruction during the pandemic.

When Dalton first began his work, a lot of the national focus was on the needs of students in urban areas, where 65% of the students that CFES Brilliant Pathways come from.

As of late, though, his organization has increased need with rural students who are getting "the short end of the stick," as Dalton says.

Rural students graduate from high school at slightly higher rates than their urban or suburban peers, but it remains challenging to get the resources needed to help them take that next step.

"People want to spend money where there is a significant density of students, and where they think they can have better bang for your buck," says Dalton, who knows a few things about rural challenges himself.

The Essex, New York native's regular commute includes a 20-minute ferry ride across Lake Champlain and then a half hour drive - hardly abnormal for him or other upstate New Yorkers whose work often centers around Middlebury or Burlington in Vermont.

"Just to let you know how rural life is here," Dalton quips, while taking our Zoom meeting from the front seat of his pickup truck.

Students Earn Degrees with College Coaching

Counseling is taking on new forms in other ways, and not just for high schoolers.

A number of organizations have formed in recent years to provide college coaching to nontraditional students.

One such company is ReUp, which specializes in helping people who have dropped out of college to finish their degrees.

Most of these students are adult learners over 25, now working full-time jobs.

Working with its own 500,000-person database and information provided by partner schools and states, ReUp reaches out and provides free coaching to those still interested in earning their degrees.

There are 110 million Americans that could have access to greater economic opportunity right in the areas they live with more education, says Terah Crews, the CEO of ReUp.

The need is particularly great in rural areas.

"Anecdotally, we see rural working adults have some of the greatest opportunity for financial security growth - and they are being left behind the most in that journey," Crews says.

I've been surprised in my rural reporting to discover that there are vast resources available to rural students, particularly low-income students, to help them earn degrees ... if they know about them.

That's the gap programs like ReUp can fill, a challenge colleges are struggling to address with limited marketing, recruitment, and advising budgets.

In four years, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania has been able to re-enroll 133 students through ReUp, says Thomas Fletcher, vice president for enrollment management.

ReUp doesn't charge the students it coaches. Instead, it charges the school, and each contract is different: for Bloomsburg, it charges 28% of the student's tuition each semester, then 37% their graduating semester.

"The decision, in my mind, was pretty simple," Fletcher says. "Do we want 72% of tuition and revenue, or zero of it?"

ReUp has roughly 50 partners, a number of which are rural serving, including places like Arkansas Technical University and Texas State University.

Most schools work with ReUp to increase enrollment across majors, but some focus on just one area. And in some cases, states will contract with ReUp to try to fill a specific workforce need.

That raises the question of whether ReUp might steer students into the degrees or professions that their partner institutions are paying for, regardless of whether it's in that student's best interests.

However, Crews says they work to match students with programs for which they have already completed some credits.

That means the student has already shown interest in that profession - and that it would be more affordable for the student to try to finish that degree, rather than completely restart on a different track.

"These are populations that most institutions won't even touch, because they say it's way too hard," Crews says.

Nick Fouriezos wrote this article for the Mile Markers newsletter via The Daily Yonder.


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Amid recent reports of high stress and loneliness among college students, a Nebraska community college has a program focused on community building and connection.

At Northeast Community College in Norfolk, the federally-funded TRIO - College Success Program enrolls about 200 of the roughly 6,500 students seeking a degree.

Joshua Becker, director of the school's TRIO program, said it "sets itself above others" with community building, intensive advising and personal success coaching. It requires TRIO students to meet with an advisor a minimum of three times a semester, which Becker pointed out allows them to catch problems early.

"We're lucky that we are able to check grades constantly with them," Becker explained. "We are able to intervene with them before the struggle is so much that it's insurmountable."

To be eligible, students must meet one of three criteria: neither parent has a four-year degree; their family meets federal low-income guidelines; or they have a documented learning, physical or emotional disability.

Becker attributes much of the TRIO program's success -- including a 66% graduation rate, compared to 53% collegewide -- to the trusting relationships the staff develop with students.

As important, he said, are the relationships the TRIO students develop with their peers. Fostering the relationships are community-building activities, including in- and out-of-state field trips and national leadership conferences.

"Because we find the more relationships that they have here on campus, the more likely they are to stick around when things get tough, because they're going to have that support system backing them," Becker noted.

Sidney Bourek, a veterinary tech student and student ambassador, attested to how helpful her TRIO advisors have been.

"With TRIO, if you're having a problem in your personal life or need help with school, need to know who to contact, they're always there," Bourek observed. "They're great about meeting with you based on your schedule."

Bourek added one of the ways the TRIO advisors "set her up for success," was helping with her FAFSA and scholarship applications. She emphasized students prod each other to be successful, too.

"There's some people who don't think they can make it or don't think that they should fill out FAFSA or important stuff like that," Bourek said. "And it's great to have each other to kind of, 'Oh, hey, did you do this, did you do that?' Just check in with each other."

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

An initiative by the Hispanic Access Foundation aims to bridge the gap between land-management agencies and access to employment for Latinos and people of color.

The My Access to Network Opportunities project has cultivated partnerships with federal agencies and organizations for professional development and training opportunities for people of color.

Nina Marti, manager of the project for the foundation, said there are often many prerequisites to be considered for a federal job. For many, it is not a lack of drive or skill, but an inability to enter the field in more traditional ways.

"What the MANO project does is, when we enter a partnership with these agencies, we're collaborating to create an environment that not only supports interns and fellows, and addresses those barriers," Marti explained. "But also creates packages, and competitive mentorship and learning opportunities, that will take them to the next level in their career."

Marti added the program involves getting interns fair wages, and funding to support relocation and housing if needed. The goal is to ensure the learning opportunities get people the experience they need to compete in the federal job market, whether it's a particular certification or field experience.

Marti pointed out there is extensive history about how people of color interact with the outdoors, and it includes barriers to owning land, and even recreation. She acknowledged not everyone is aware of the steps and knowledge needed to be considered for land management positions.

In talks with federal agencies, her group emphasized the importance of being open to "nontraditional education backgrounds."

"Particularly as it pertains to Indigenous peoples, who have such a deep understanding of their lands but not through the traditional educational pathway," Marti noted. "Or folks who are engaged in their communities who understand their needs. There are so many different ways to acquire that knowledge."

To young people interested in federal job opportunities but feel they're not qualified, her advice is, "Don't count yourself out." And to people in positions of power within federal agencies, Marti advised it would help them to broaden their own understanding of conservation and environmentalism, which she added will open doors for new stakeholders.

Educator training programs in Georgia would not contain diversity, equity and inclusion terms, if the Georgia Professional Standards Commission decides this month to remove them.

Groups are voicing concerns about it, both for teachers and students. The changes would affect all educators up to Grade 12, from principals and superintendents, to reading specialists and school counselors. The proposal would remove terms like "equitable," and use words like "unique" or "different" instead of "diverse."

Mikayla Arciaga, Georgia director of advocacy and education for the Intercultural Development Research Association, said the result would diminish the evidence-based training teachers want, and create obstacles for addressing student needs.

"It's a politicization of something that should not be political, which is that every classroom should feel safe for every child," Arciaga asserted. "And so, to walk away [from] that language that explicitly said, 'We will serve you regardless of these things,' we're inherently swapping that out for a more deficit-focused lens. I think it has just, like, inherently negative implications."

Proponents of the changes say they are crucial to prevent misinterpretation or confusion about the language, thus better equipping new educators. But Arciaga contended teachers can better serve students from diverse backgrounds if they focus on cultural responsiveness.

In 2020 research from Northwestern College, adopting culturally responsive teaching methods was found to significantly boost student engagement and foster a positive classroom atmosphere.

Mason Goodwin, organizer for the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, said his organization also opposes the changes. He warned they could not only negatively affect students but reduce competitiveness in terms of hiring and retaining educators.

"I think there's kind-of two sides to this," Goodwin explained. "One is how this impacts future teachers, which is like, all of a sudden, the accreditation that they're getting isn't going to match what other states have. Then in the classroom, our teachers need to be aware of all the different situations students are coming from."

The public had the opportunity to voice opinions on the suggested modifications until May 23, and the commission is set to review them this week, at its Thursday meeting. The changes would take effect July 1 if adopted.


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