While the bipartisan infrastructure package is likely to include benefits for rural areas, such as funds to improve roads, bridges, and waterways, so far it does not include support for rural colleges, an important avenue for promoting economic mobility and economic development.

In many states, a single rural college is the only postsecondary option for hundreds of miles around. Education gaps between rural communities and their more urbanized counterparts are sizable. In most states, rural high school students achieve graduation rates similar to urban and suburban counterparts, but their college enrollment rates are much lower. While 41 percent of urban adults have a college degree, only 28 percent of rural adults do. And during the pandemic, rural colleges have seen drastic drops in enrollment.

Despite these challenges, rural colleges have been sources of impressive innovation during the past year and a half. Here are three things rural colleges adopted as they adjusted to the pandemic that could be expanded with more federal support.

Read the full article about investing in rural colleges by Alissa Ratledge at MDRC.