Rural college readiness: CHE article

[polly_mer]

yeah, you can expect a rural kid to ride the bus to the local college. They are pretty much stuck where they are unless there is a sympathetic adult with gas money.

Even a sympathetic adult with gas money may not have the time/energy/resources to give enough rides in an isolated enough spot.  City folk often don't really get how far 100 miles is when you have to do it multiple times a week, there's one road, and sometimes that 1.5 h trip takes 6 hours.  Some of my friends and colleagues recount being on the public school bus for 70+ miles one way every day for K-12.

[marshwiggle]

yeah, you can expect a rural kid to ride the bus to the local college. They are pretty much stuck where they are unless there is a sympathetic adult with gas money.

Even a sympathetic adult with gas money may not have the time/energy/resources to give enough rides in an isolated enough spot.  City folk often don't really get how far 100 miles is when you have to do it multiple times a week, there's one road, and sometimes that 1.5 h trip takes 6 hours.  Some of my friends and colleagues recount being on the public school bus for 70+ miles one way every day for K-12.

For my high school, I got on the bus just after 7:30 a.m. High school started at 9 a.m. My bus went to the elementary school in town, and then we switched buses to go to the high school in another town. Coming home, the bus ride was more direct, so I think I was only on it for more like an hour*. Because there were no "late buses" that went near my home, I couldn't do any extracurricular activities after school, since my mom was a working single parent and couldn't drive to pick me up.

(* I was not at the end of the bus route, so there were other kids who got on earlier and got home later.)

[spork]

Decline in enrollment at Kansas State from state's rural counties more than twice that of its urban counties:

https://themercury.com/news/k-state-sees-biggest-enrollment-declines-in-rural-counties/article_e9c56dcd-6aad-5607-b298-7f54235c267b.html.