Starting college was difficult for me. Even though I always excelled in my small town Illinois school district, and still view myself as a lifelong student with a zeal for learning, I had no idea the initial challenges I would face. I had the opportunity to attend college in a major urban area hours and states away from home. I even had the drive to dive right into a few student organizations to meet my new classmates. However, I realized right off the bat that I had a vastly different life experience and schooling than my peers. Nearly all of them were from cities and suburbs, and had the benefit of extensive advanced coursework and learning opportunities. Very few people understood where I came from, or the uphill battle I fought to play “catch up” and fit in.
And I’m not alone. The significant disparity between urban and rural college-going and college completion rates reveals how challenging this key transition is in a young person’s life. Thankfully, more and more student groups like the Rural Area Student Initiative (RASI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are hoping to buck the trend. Established in 2022 by a couple of rural students who encountered the same struggles and isolation I had, RASI provides an intentional space on campus for rural students to connect and mutually support each other. Even more, each member can elect to become a local liaison for students still in their hometown district. These liaisons then help future rural students understand the process for applying to and surviving college.
Efforts like RASI are critical. Even though, as they themselves admit, college isn’t for everyone, all rural students still deserve equitable access to these getaways to higher-wage and higher-skilled careers. We need to be pulling out all the stops for our rural students in college and career readiness. This is a primary driving force behind our advocacy at AIRSS, including the Rural IL CTE Project.
As a lifelong rural kid who learned the hard way just how different life in an urban college can be, I’d encourage you to check out RASI and see how you can support them or similar efforts wherever your students are headed.
Yours in advocacy,
John Glasgow, Program Director