On a warm afternoon at Amherst College, admitted high school seniors from small towns stood around a fire pit, trying to build a blaze and earn s’mores. The scene was part social, part practical: an admissions event aimed not just at winning over applicants, but at convincing students raised in rural places that a selective, out-of-state college could be a good fit.
That outreach is the second phase of a recent push to broaden the applicant pool. Three years ago a major donor, Missouri-born financier Byron Trott, put $20 million into launching the STARS (Small Town and Rural Students) College Network to encourage elite institutions to recruit in rural communities. Seeing that roughly a quarter of Americans live in rural areas while just a tiny fraction of students at some top colleges came from those places, STARS aimed to change where admissions officers travel and whom they target. The initiative has since drawn another $150 million and expanded its membership from 16 to 32 schools, including Ivy League and tech elites.
The effort has had measurable impact: STARS reports more than 90,000 rural students applied to member schools last year, a rise of about 15 percent from the previous year. Member colleges have pledged to visit high schools they previously ignored and to pay for admitted rural students to visit campuses for overnight stays and special programming. More than 1,000 rural students accepted those offers last year, attending classes, eating in dining halls and sleeping in dorms so they can picture themselves as students there.
But recruiting applications is only half the work. Getting admitted rural students to enroll in the fall — and to persist to graduation four years later — has proved harder.
Part of the challenge is economic. Rural households earn less on average: the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports median rural income is about 12 percent below the national average, even after adjusting for lower living costs. That makes sticker prices intimidating, even when generous financial aid is available. Cultural factors also matter: many rural families view higher education skeptically or worry it will distance students from local values. A recent poll found rural respondents were more likely than urban and suburban residents to doubt the benefits of college and to worry about its effects on political views and personal values.
Students themselves describe practical and emotional barriers. Jack Hancock, a senior from Milford, Pennsylvania, said he had been surprised that top private colleges seemed to care about rural applicants. His community doesn’t typically send students to selective private schools; many classmates plan community college or nearby state campuses. Hancock’s family even bought a tiny car window decal when his brother attended a private college, to avoid signaling they were different — a reflection of the modesty or self-consciousness common in some small towns.
Olivia Meier, from Chugiak, Alaska, pointed to cost and to a common feeling that elite colleges are “out of reach.” Even at a school district with a high graduation rate, fewer than half of graduates go straight to college. For students who don’t see role models in their families or communities who have navigated admissions and aid processes, the whole enterprise can feel daunting.
On campus, rural newcomers can find themselves culturally adrift. Bates College professor Mara Tieken, who has studied rural students at elite colleges, notes that many campus norms — interests, shopping habits, even music — can feel foreign. That sense of not belonging contributes to higher stop-out rates: national data show rural students who enroll are more likely to drop out before degree completion than suburban peers.
Colleges joining STARS are trying to address those practical and cultural gaps. At Amherst, admissions staff created a specific overnight visit for rural admitted students and hired a coordinator for rural outreach. They’ve also offered financial support for visits and created peer networks: current students from rural backgrounds run support groups and mentoring programs to help newcomers build networks and learn how to access internships and career resources that wealthier, better-connected peers often reach through family ties.
Those efforts appear to be shifting numbers at Amherst. Since joining STARS, the college says it admitted more students from small towns and rural areas — 96 in one recent class, up from 70 the year before — and that the share of students who identify as rural rose from about 6 percent to 11 percent. This year the college reported admitting 119 rural applicants. Campus leaders say the change not only diversifies the student body but also enriches conversations across differing life experiences.
Still, leaders cautioned that the gains are incremental and the heavy lifting continues. Marjorie Betley, who directs the STARS effort, says the work is evolving from simply getting rural students “to college” to helping them get “through college.” That means not only outreach and paid visits but sustained advising, help navigating financial aid and career pathways, and campus communities that acknowledge and validate rural backgrounds.
Students who have made the transition point to the unexpected benefits. Kara Lewis, a junior from a tiny Maryland town, says leaving for college made her appreciate her hometown more and gave her a clearer sense of the value she brings. Ryan Peipher, another Amherst student from a rural background, helped start a rural student support group. He warns that rural students often miss out on advanced courses or extracurricular experiences that peers from wealthier suburban schools have, and that lack of early networks can make the first steps into career fields — internships, alumni introductions — harder to take.
For colleges, increasing rural enrollment is not just a recruitment exercise; administrators argue it’s a way to diversify thought and perspective at a time of political and cultural polarization. Rural students bring experiences and viewpoints that urban and suburban students may lack, and administrators hope campuses will gain as much as the students.
The experiment is still young. STARS has broadened the pipeline and member colleges are refining ways to translate more applications into matriculation and degree completion. Success will require institutions to pair outreach with meaningful financial support, targeted advising, and community-building on campus so rural students not only enroll, but thrive.