We're Off to See the City: Motivating Factors for Rural Students Choosing an Urban University

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding the City: Location, Localities, and the Relationship to the University

Abstract

Students from rural communities continue to enroll in higher education at lower rates than their urban and suburban counterparts and research reveals that strong communities ties play a role in this trend. These strong bonds can also lead the students who do enter higher education to explore options that allow them to stay in or near their community. Still, some rural students make an active choice to not only pursue a postsecondary degree, but to do so in an urban setting. This phenomenological study explored the motivating factors for rural students who chose to attend an urban university and how they understood the role of their rural community in this choice.

Author

• Ashley N. Stone, Syracuse University