Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges

“Part of the power of this is that we’ve done the hard work of conceptualizing and identifying these institutions.”

“A lot of think tanks and foundations interested in rural communities, as well as those in higher education who want to do research, tend to get stuck at the same roadblock: what counts as rural?”

“By and large, the only conversation about rural is: ‘OK, we know where an institution is, and that’s how we’re classifying them. What gets lost are institutions that may not be in a place formally classified as rural, but are doing important rural service and this is because … there’s no agreed upon definition.”

"Often these colleges are thought of as being in sparsely populated places. But an institution could be located on the edge of a suburban county but draw students from nearby rural areas."

“Even if you find a really good ‘rural’ definition, you’re still leaving out these other institutions that are doing that work. So, we sort of see it as we’re building a bigger tent. We want to be more inclusive in talking about these institutions than talking about those in a rural place.”

“Serving goes beyond just where you’re located. The way we approached this was not a strict definition where you must meet this criteria and that criteria, but instead, to come up with this metric that is relative so that we’re comparing institutions to each other.”

"...many morale issues in higher education run deep enough that a free T-shirt will feel shallow and even insulting."

U.S. News and World Report has really capitalized on the fact that a lot of people, either they don't have the time or they don't really have the interest to go that deep. And so they're going to trust something like newspapers and World Report, which they think saves them time.

Some are leaving the field or not taking vacant positions. Others are moving between institutions. For supervisors, "that in and of itself is the same problem" as people leaving the field altogether, because it's still turnover.

“Even if this was always going to be the end result, there's a feeling like your fate is being handed down to you.”

But, as someone who studies rural-serving colleges and grew up in a PASSHE town, it’s concerning that these conversations are happening in ways that are not aligned with evidence-based decision making. These decisions are so important to our communities that we should be committed to making sure that our assumptions are founded and our solutions are meaningfully tailored to the stated goals.

It’s difficult for me to see how making cuts to an anchor institution that has devastating effects for the local community is good for students, if those students are themselves from the community.

While I don’t know if the pay disparity seen in Oklahoma and elsewhere can be easily fixed in the short term, it can be alleviated. I don't know if we'll get it right, but we can certainly try to get it less wrong.

“[Muscling a company to hold up its end of the bargain takes energy and resources] and does illustrate a major source of conflict that can arise in public-private partnerships. At the end of the day, that private entity is going to do what it thinks is necessary to maximize profit.”

"This all ties to a willingness to provide funding to make education affordable."

Regional colleges have difficulty supporting and graduating students, especially those from low-income families, due to the diminished state budgets. Too many people have become 'comfortable with broken promises for Coloradans.'

If regionals need saving from anything, it’s bad public policy.

"Community colleges have always molded to the area they serve. Their mission is to really align themselves with whatever their community needs."

Tuition at Pennsylvania's public universities has long been among the highest in the country, and not just because each PASSHE school has its own set of leaders, which would add overhead cost. I'm not convinced the called-for student savings could happen without more state money.

"The vast majority of Americans, including in North Carolina, are attending some of these more regional-oriented institutions. It's important as we continue to navigate the pandemic, that if we are interested in supporting rural communities and creating opportunity for the people there, we ought to invest in these institutions."

Full-time-equivalent enrollment has been the standard way of measuring the number of students at an institution for some time, and the problem is that that figure often undercounts the number of students that are at these types of institutions, many of which are serving part-time students.

Our goal with the ‘In Focus’ sections was to exemplify the reports’ findings in a way that reminds readers that these are real places providing services to real communities. The section on Native American students is especially important to us because there is a history of erasing Native American students in educational research, especially when relying on federal data.

The ARRC researchers encouraged the government to boost workforce development and create a "Rural Serving Institution" designation in federal law that would provide grants for these institutions.

We want to move the degree attainment rate and have people enter the middle class. Regionals are more affordable and are going to be pivotal on these issues. But they can't do anything if we continue to undercut them.

"The framing matters. It reflects whether or not we truly see, and therefore treat, regional colleges as an important part of the higher ed landscape and as a vital part of society."

Worst-case scenario: Colleges will be directly responsible for increasing case counts in a region or state. To me that's a failure to assume the public health responsibility.

What the nation’s public regionals do best is provide access to the students who live nearby and can’t go far away for college and contribute in deep ways to the health and vitality of their communities.

Even as a scholar and someone who believes that going online is the right decision, I know that in many cases, shifting to online means that institutions are going to be in a very tough spot financially. And that will mean jobs are on the line.

And I want to be in a world where folks from rural communities are in a position to start speaking up more and being heard better. So we need those folks to come back to do the work that we have to do

It’s easy for people to discount how the politics external from institutions are weighing on these decisions as well. These are the people that decide on your funding. There is a tightrope you have to walk.

Even with the precautions, there is still a risk — and that risk is human life. It’s my hope that institutions will really emphasize and prioritize human life over their finances.

If I’m a leader, I better be prepared to have a really good explanation for why it is that I brought people back to campus—understanding the risks—if somebody falls ill and dies.

Had universities been provided with resources that would have allowed them to shut down in the fall and operate virtually, I think every single one of them would have done it.