The Strength of Rural College Towns

I grew up in the suburbs of a big city, a major metropolitan — part of a megalopolis, in fact, if you’re a somewhat corny person into such terms of art, as I very much am. But most of my adult life has been spent in the rural west, and a long stretch in Alaska, in towns ranging from around 1,000 people on a busy day to a comparatively bustling 45,000. My current home here on the rolling hills of the Palouse is shared by somewhere just under 25,000 other souls, and it has one key, all-encompassing difference than any other rural place I’ve lived: It’s a college town.

College towns are different. Especially in rural areas, they stand out from other places. The downtown of my little city is lively and alluring – none of the boarded-up doors and decaying facades you’ll find in a few of the towns in which I’ve lived. We have more restaurants than I can count, and bike trails galore. Unemployment is low. The parks are well-maintained, the potholes get fixed. More importantly, there are notable employers outside the university – an economic modeling company, an advanced manufacturing company, among others – that clearly benefit from the close proximity and interplay with higher education.

A recent article in The Atlantic, “Could Small-Town Harvards Revive Rural Economies?”, puts it finger (somewhat bluntly) on this phenomenon. In a country where megalopolises in a few key areas dominate, and where the vast middle is struggling to stay vibrant, rural towns with higher education institutions are sometimes thriving, often hanging in there, and nearly always at least have opportunities.

It’s worth reading. I gravitated toward a key couple points. As the article notes, one doesn’t just start college campuses from scratch – a couple hundred years into the development of higher education in this country, the market is pretty well full. Now, what those campuses look like, and how they’re able to respond to and drive the imperatives of their communities, that’s an exciting challenge in our current day.

There’s a lot in this conversation that I find a little … silly. The title’s tantalizing promise of “small-town Harvards” seems emblematic of a lot of our national media’s inability to reconcile their view of higher education’s value and importance to the actual mission, values and outcomes offered by the hundreds and thousands of useful institutions that aren’t residents of the Ivy League. We don’t need “small-town Harvards,” or regional MITs, at least if we’re talking about highly selective, highly affordable ivory towers. We do need small-town Harvards if we’re talking about accessible, affordable institutions that promote education, research with on-the-ground applications, and economic development for the region.

Great news – in many cases, we already have them. But I won’t get to soliloquizing on the virtues our public research universities here. It’s clear that higher education institutions, especially four-year institutions, have to prioritize economic development. Be nimble enough to seize on an emerging industry important to the area – my institution is making headway in computer science and cybersecurity, for example, which are economically important in the region. Many institutions are already positioned to do so – research universities, for example – and those that aren’t probably have areas of opportunity. So I fundamentally agree with article’s conclusion: “Rejuvenating rural economies is difficult, but there might not be a need to create whole new universities in a saturated market. One solution is already there: launching new programs at existing colleges and universities based on where jobs will be.”

I also think higher education institutions generally have to do a better job of promoting their impact on quality of life, economic development and access to opportunities for those who want and need them. Public confidence in higher education is dimming, abetted by an array of factors, many of them coming from a place of bad faith (I’ll leave it at that). A dynamic institution that proactively connects with the community and partners to meet needs and drive new growth can be a useful ambassador for higher education writ large. I’d hope that helps turn the tide, however incrementally.

In the meantime, the weekends will find me on the bike trails.

Idaho one of the fastest-growing states

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its population estimate as of summer 2018. Idaho and Nevada are the fastest-growing states in the nation. Each are growing at 2.1 percent, though Nevada comes out ahead if you’re really going for it and take the calculation out to two decimal points. Open space, affordable housing, increasing employment opportunities – the growth of the Intermountain West/Great Basin makes sense.

I also looked into demographic trends. Idaho is the third-youngest state in the nation, with only 74.5 percent of its population more than 18 years old. Texas (74.2 percent) and Utah (70.5 percent) are ahead. I’d have to do more research to see what the trend is – if Idaho is getting faster or younger. Are retirees moving in? Or are young families drawn to the economy? Where does the growing Hispanic population fit into the equation?

But regardless, continued growth would seem to have down-the-line payoffs in increased college-going. It also bears watching as the 2020 census draws near and even more demographic information becomes available.

Higher Ed Enrollment Predictions

The trendlines for higher education enrollment seem be pointing downward … in many cases, but not all. A new report by a researcher at Carleton College explores the future of postsecondary education — a 15 percent decline in enrollment by 2025. University reputation and geography seem to be significant driving factors of future enrollment, lower or higher.

Why the decline? Put simply, the birthrate has declined. According to the Jill Barshay at Hechinger Report, “Birthrates failed to rebound with the economic recovery. The latest 2017 birthrate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posts new lows, marking almost a decade of reduced fertility.” Our economic choices, precipitant but I’d say correlation seems to have more than a passing acquaintance with causation

The pain won’t be shared equally, though. Elite colleges will benefit from reputation and from legacies. Liberal arts colleges, especially in the Northeast, will be hard-pressed to draw enrollment in a tightly packed market competing for fewer and fewer students. Regional universities, especially in highly populated areas, will similarly struggle.

Out in the west, the future looks a little brighter, though hardly trouble free. In the intermountain west, five states will see an increase in postsecondary education: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Idaho was the nation’s fastest growing state from 2016-2017, increasing population by 2.2 percent. (It was followed closely by Nevada, Utah and Washington.) It is not a given that increased population correlates with increased postsecondary participation – per capita income and other socioeconomic factors would still seem to be important factors – but for higher ed, one would probably rather have the increase in population and see how it can develop.

Big caveat: “Of course, Grawe’s predictions may turn out to be wrong. Economists predicted a similar drop in college enrollments in the 1980s following the baby boom generation. Instead, the college-going rate skyrocketed.” Things change! Often, predictions assume that factors on the ground will remain constant.

In my view, confusion and cost are front-and-center challenges, so lowering as many practical and procedural hurdles to college attendance is essential. Advancing policy measures to ensure that students are not priced out of higher education – there are a range of possibilities, from more need-based aid to free tuition proposals of all kinds – is also critical. And colleges will need to do better at supporting the students already on campus, so that they progress from year to year through graduation and careers.

It will be an interesting decade for those in higher education. Even in a state with a somewhat positive trendline, there will be no shortage of work to do.

The Smith-Lever Act: A Century of Innovation

The land-grant university system, one of the great animating ideas of American democracy, at least as it is premised on the idea of common access to opportunity, is built on a series of successive acts. The Morrill Act of 1862 established the system, granting land to states with which to establish universities for the practical training of citizens; the system would be expanded in 1890, in the early 1990s, and with the regular flow of states entering the union. The Hatch Act of 1887 created a funding mechanism for research and experiment stations at the land-grant institutions. The Smith-Lever Act, named for co-sponsors Hoke Smith and Asbury Lever established the agricultural Extension system at land-grant universities.

The Smith-Lever Act, celebrating its 104th anniversary this May 8, is the third legislative pillar of the land-grant system, and a testament to the Progressive age. Prior to the creation of the Extension network, university research, especially agricultural research, had “no consistent or efficient way to deliver important knowledge from the university campuses to the communities that needed it,” in the words of Rose M. Hayden Smith and Rachel Suris of the University of California Cooperative Extension. “Passage of Smith-Lever launched a century of innovation in U.S. education that continues to this day.”

The good work of congressmen Hoke and Asbury earned the signature of President Woodrow Wilson – “The Schoolmaster,” as he was called, probably not always warmly – while the outbreak of World War I was fewer than two months away (though the U.S. would not enter the fray for several years). The Smith-Lever Act has endured and thrived, offering land-grant universities footholds in counties across their respective states (42 of 44 counties in Idaho, for instance). In the words of Woodrow Wilson, the act was “one of the most significant and far-reaching measures for the education of adults ever adopted by government.” I surely can’t say it better than “The Phrasemaker” – another Wilson nickname.

From the act: “That in order to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture and home economics, and to encourage the application of the same, there may be inaugurated in connection with the college or colleges in each State now receiving, or which may hereafter receive, the benefits of the Act of congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled ‘An Act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts.’”

Higher Ed Attainment – A Quiet Success Story

As the Center for American Progress points out, there is a positive story about increased attainment levels in higher education that often gets lost: “Look at the headlines in higher education today, and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything but bad news.” Student debt is an especially pervasive story – a real challenge in many ways, but often elevated to a “crisis.” But the percentage of Americans age 25-34 with at least an associates degree has increased 7 percent over 10 years, to 47.8 percent. Still low, but a notable improvement.

Plenty of challenges remain, as this article explains, including serious disparities in degree attainment among different racial groups. Higher education needs to continue to proactively target groups where access and completion lags, undoubtedly. But highlighting the positive trends could help us go beyond doom and gloom stories and reinforce an understanding of the very real benefits of higher education. Too often the “crisis” stories dominate the headlines, something I see from my humble perch in the communications office at a public research university in a state where there is a concerted effort to raise attainment levels (certificate and beyond) to 60 percent by 2025.

Though we’re a ways off the target in my state, practical, long-term strategic enrollment and student success initiatives will probably continue to have incremental success. But I worry that a narrative that only focuses on systemic failures leaves too many who could and should benefit from higher education confused about the value and necessity of a degree. As the CAP notes, “Completing college is one of the best paths to lifelong economic success in this country.” I’d argue that it’s increasingly the best path in an economy that more and more prioritizes the skills and experience higher education offers.

Let’s not ignore the problems in access, affordability and completion. But let’s remember that it’s not the whole story. The more we understand and highlight our progress, the more progress we can make.