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Rural Postsecondary Encouragement through a Land Grant University County Extension Office

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Title: Rural Postsecondary Encouragement through a Land Grant University County Extension Office
Language: English
Authors: Glenda Droogsma Musoba (ORCID 0000-0002-6267-1067), Juan Lopez (ORCID 0000-0002-3360-0892)
Source: New Directions for Higher Education. 2024 (205):19-34.
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 16
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Secondary Education
Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Rural Schools, High Schools, School Counselors, Extension Agents, Land Grant Universities, Extension Education, County Programs, Educational Attainment, Post High School Guidance, Outreach Programs, Educational Counseling, Student Financial Aid, Enrollment Influences
Geographic Terms: Texas
DOI: 10.1002/he.20483
ISSN: 0271-0560
1536-0741
Abstract: Rural students graduate from high school at higher rates but go to college at lower rate than their urban and suburban peers. To take on the educational attainment challenge for rural students, we need to know more about postsecondary encouragement programs. This study examined a pilot postsecondary encouragement program in 11 rural high schools with two questions: How do high school counselors support students' plans for life after high school through a land-grant outreach program? How is a university outreach program utilized in these schools? This qualitative case study used 17 individual interviews with school counselors and county extension agents. According to school counselors, the postsecondary encouragement program increased financial aid applications and student interest in college going. County extension agents were a trusted bridge between the program and the local high schools. Tracking student milestones helped school counselors serve all students, and program experts provided workshops for students and parents. Campus visits helped students visualize themselves as college students, yet financial concerns dominated the students' college choices.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1424113
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0177193311;ndh01mar.24;2024May15.07:15;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0177193311-1">Rural postsecondary encouragement through a land grant university county extension office </title> <sbt id="AN0177193311-2">INTRODUCTION</sbt> <p>Rural students graduate from high school at higher rates but go to college at lower rate than their urban and suburban peers. To take on the educational attainment challenge for rural students, we need to know more about postsecondary encouragement programs. This study examined a pilot postsecondary encouragement program in 11 rural high schools with two questions: How do high school counselors support students' plans for life after high school through a land‐grant outreach program? How is a university outreach program utilized in these schools? This qualitative case study used 17 individual interviews with school counselors and county extension agents. According to school counselors, the postsecondary encouragement program increased financial aid applications and student interest in college going. County extension agents were a trusted bridge between the program and the local high schools. Tracking student milestones helped school counselors serve all students, and program experts provided workshops for students and parents. Campus visits helped students visualize themselves as college students, yet financial concerns dominated the students' college choices. Practical Takeaways: Postsecondary encouragement through information from experts combined with local support can be a cost‐effective intervention to increase rural students' college going.Counselors tracking all students for college and career readiness milestones ensure all students are given the message that they are college material, a predictor of enrollment.Counselors and students lack clear information about costs and financial aid availability, but these are important to rural families' decisions.Local county extension agents can serve as the bridge between the rural student population and the 4‐year universities. Extension agents and school counselors gave credibility to outside experts.</p> <p>Rural students graduate from high school at higher rates but attend college at lower rates when compared to their peers in urban and suburban communities (Koricich et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref1">25</reflink>]; Wells et al., [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref2">40</reflink>]), yet college aspirations of rural students have increased in recent years (Meece et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref3">30</reflink>]). The benefits of a college education accrue to the student in greater earnings, better health and personal satisfaction, but an educated citizenry also benefits the states as college educated individuals are more likely to be employed and paying taxes and less likely to use government services (Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref4">5</reflink>]; Trostel, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref5">39</reflink>]). Nearly one in five K‐12 students attends rural schools and of those students, about one in six lives below the poverty line (Showalter et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref6">36</reflink>]). While rural issues have gained prominence in recent years, they still are relatively ignored by politicians who focus on denser suburban areas (Showalter et al.). Yet, if states are going to reach their goals for the percentage of high school graduates with college credentials, rural students need to be part of the solution. Researchers define rural by proximity to an urban area or size of the community and by family residence or by school location. Depending on the definition of rural this can vary from being negligible to seven percentage points of difference in college‐going between rural students and their peers (Manly et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref7">27</reflink>]). Our study identified rural by the school rather than students address and size of the local community.</p> <p>Scholars argue that universities must engage with rural schools, such as through postsecondary encouragement programs (Byndloss, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref8">12</reflink>]). The land‐grant mission of some public universities suggests they should be leading the college access effort with their focus on serving the citizens of the state (Gavazzi & Gee, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref9">18</reflink>]). Land‐grant institutions' original core values include providing a higher education to the citizens of the state, conducting applied research, and engaging in service to the community for the betterment of the citizen. Considering the agricultural roots of the land‐grant university improvement of rural communities has always been a part of the land‐grant identity. When interviewed, virtually all current presidents of land‐grant institutions saw rural communities as part of their current and future mission (Gavazzi & Gee, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref10">18</reflink>]).</p> <p>For land‐grant universities or other entities to take on the educational attainment challenge for rural students knowing what postsecondary encouragement features work is important. Researchers have not studied fully postsecondary encouragement programs run by universities and third‐party organizations (not K‐12 schools), particularly with analyses that account for the rural cultural context (Arnold et al., [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref11">4</reflink>]; Manly et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref12">27</reflink>]; McDonough et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref13">28</reflink>]). Traditional efforts that may work in urban areas such as sending admissions recruiters to reach low‐income students in schools or other high touch efforts are not feasible when the students live across large geographical areas. However, the education of all students is important enough to merit state and institutional investment. Yet virtually all land‐grant senior administrators said concerns about finances were their biggest challenge (Gavazzi & Gee, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref14">18</reflink>]) and may drive public universities from their service mission (Jaquette & Curs, [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref15">23</reflink>]). Universities need innovative approaches to fulfill this land‐grant mandate in austere times.</p> <p>In response to the low college enrollment of rural Texas high school graduates, Texas A&M University's Agricultural Extension Services piloted an outreach program, the Rural Student Success Initiative (RSSI), throughout the state. The program utilized the existing place‐based county extension agents partnered with regional and national experts in college access to bring the program to rural schools. Extension agents are agricultural and wellness educators in all Texas counties who bring the latest research knowledge to rural communities. The goal of the program was not to recruit for Texas A&M University, but to increase the number of rural students applying for and going to a college or university. They included qualitative and quantitative evaluation in the pilot program. Examining this college outreach program, our qualitative research tries to understand the college choice context of rural students and exploring what features school personnel and county extension agents believe are working. Two questions drive our study: How do county extension agents and high school counselors support students' plans post high school through a land‐grant outreach program? How is a university outreach program utilized in these schools?</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-3">LITERATURE REVIEW</hd> <p>Three bodies of literature guided this research. We begin by looking at how rural educational attainment is a natural part of the land‐grant university mission. We then examine the existing research on college‐going among rural students and the more limited research on postsecondary encouragement programs.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-4">The land‐grant university system research</hd> <p>To answer these research questions, it is useful to discuss the land‐grant university system. Gavazzi ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref16">17</reflink>]), Gavazzi and Gee ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref17">18</reflink>]), and Gee ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref18">19</reflink>]), argue that US land‐grant institutions must get back to their core missions of applied research for the state/community; education for all citizens, not just the elite; and the agricultural and community extensions services. This was the reason the Morrill Act of 1862, the Hatch Act of 1877, and the Smith‐Lever Act of 1914 were designed: to create and enhance land‐grant institutions that would be more servant‐like universities. Consequently, Gavazzi calls for the need to revert to these institutions as serving institutions, rather than what they have become now which are more of ranking‐focused, research institutions that focus on suburban students and elite students rather than rural students. Zimdahl ([<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref19">41</reflink>]) highlights the importance of colleges of agriculture, he also makes the argument that these universities must move from self‐interest (university survival) to adhering to their obligations of "service and humanism" (pp. 103).</p> <p>Highlighting postsecondary encouragement programs in rural areas can be a way of raising the profile of extension services and the land‐grant values at the university. While using agricultural and health extension agents to develop a postsecondary encouragement program initially appears novel, it clearly falls in the center of the service university mission of enhancing the lives of citizens in rural communities.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-5">Rural college‐going research</hd> <p>Research that exists on rural students highlights how these students are influenced by their peers' postsecondary aspirations, school climate (Quaglia & Cobb, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref20">33</reflink>]), perceptions about future employment options (Petrin et al, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref21">32</reflink>]), parental education, college preparatory curriculum, teacher expectations (Byun et al., [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref22">15</reflink>]), school counselors (Bryan et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref23">11</reflink>]; Bryan et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref24">10</reflink>]) and parental educational expectations for their child's education (Agger et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref25">2</reflink>]). Koricich et al. ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref26">25</reflink>]) argue that rural poverty may be the umbrella phenomenon that most impacts rural students' college choice and in part limits them to local community colleges. Means et. al. ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref27">29</reflink>]) also concluded that finances and financial aid were important. A popular metaphor amongst scholars that engage in rural research is that students do not attend college at the same rate because of rural community cultures, often referred to as "Golden Cages" (McDonough et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref28">28</reflink>]). These cages often provide comfort and support for rural high school students but also push these students to distrust "outsider" higher education institutions. Thus, the golden cage support causes rural community residents and schools to build a defense mechanism of strong ties with local community colleges. Means and colleagues identified a tension for students with a sense that they needed to leave for career opportunities but leaving was problematic because it meant leaving family behind (2016).</p> <p>School counselors are important to students' college choice and may be even more important for rural students (Lapan et al., [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref29">26</reflink>]; Means et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref30">29</reflink>]). If students believed their counselor had high expectations for them, the students were more likely to talk with their counselor about college plans and more likely to go to college (Bryan et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref31">11</reflink>]; Bryan et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref32">10</reflink>]–18). This was particularly true for low‐income students. However, school counselors may have limited ability to distinguish between college options. In one study, most school counselors identified the differences between 2‐ and 4‐year colleges as lower cost and open admission at community colleges, but less than 10% of counselors identified higher dropout rates and inadequate advising or academic supports in community colleges as differences (Ilic et al., [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref33">22</reflink>]). Low transfer rates and low 4‐year graduation rates make starting at the local community college a less than ideal option for many (Bailey et al., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref34">6</reflink>], Bowen et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref35">9</reflink>]).</p> <p>Ardoin ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref36">3</reflink>]), examining rural students in the southeast, concluded that school counselors are understaffed and overworked, therefore providing only sporadic guidance before 11th and 12th grade which leaves minimal support during the middle school years when students are deciding whether they will go to college. Rural students in Ardoin's study often became stuck in the predisposition stage or began search and selection later than recommended. Social class and income were significant barriers for students. She also concluded counselors only had current information on the colleges within a 2‐h radius of the high school.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-6">Postsecondary encouragement program research</hd> <p>Research on postsecondary encouragement programs suggests the following barriers keep low‐income students from applying to rigorous colleges that usually have stronger student supports: lack of information, lack of forward planning, and lack of encouragement and guidance (Bowen et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref37">9</reflink>]; Byndloss et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref38">12</reflink>]). Further, prospective students prioritize the present over long‐term goals, have inertia over obstacles in the present are very loan averse, and fail to apply (Dynarski et al., [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref39">16</reflink>]; Hoxby & Turner, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref40">21</reflink>]). While not rural focused, Page and Scott‐Clayton's ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref41">31</reflink>]) literature review grouped barriers to access in three categories: financial, academic, and behavior/informational interventions. For college promise programs with guaranteed tuition assistance, they conclude the early messaging about grants and opportunities influences student outcomes beyond just the dollar value of the grants.</p> <p>Financial interventions that guide students and families in timely FAFSA applications are associated with college going and completion (Bettinger et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref42">8</reflink>]), but only providing additional financial aid information did not make a statistically significant change in behavior (Gurantz et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref43">20</reflink>]). Two studies found providing students with more information and guidance improved applications (Dynarski et al., [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref44">16</reflink>]; Hoxby & Turner, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref45">21</reflink>]). Hoxby and Turner tested four features of postsecondary encouragement including encouragement to apply to more rigorous institutions, fee waivers for applications, net price calculators for accurate cost data, and guidance on meeting admissions deadlines. They concluded the combination of features was important. Small nudges increase the quality of the colleges students attended but did not lead to increases in college enrollment overall. However, Gurantz and colleagues found providing students' information alone was not enough. They concluded students needed more individualized guidance. Their large‐scale experimental study found no improvement in college going by providing students messaging about fee waivers, aggregate costs, and admissions.</p> <p>Ross et al. ([<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref46">35</reflink>]) concluded that providing students' structure in exploring colleges and completing applications as well as providing guidance in choice can help students overcome barriers and avoid undermatching which is associated with a higher probability of withdrawal. Undermatching occurs when students are not attending the most rigorous college they are qualified to attend and is associated with lower completion rates (Bowen et al., 2009). Research shows rural students undermatch (Koricich et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref47">25</reflink>]). There is a growing body of literature on interventions to improve college going, but there is no consensus on what works and how best to provide these interventions and a much smaller portion of that research is on rural students. Our study adds to the evidence on intervention features for rural student.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-7">METHODOLOGY</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0177193311-8">Postsecondary encouragement program focus of study</hd> <p>Within the qualitative tradition, this case study explores the perceptions of high school counselors and county extension agents who are part of the RSSI postsecondary encouragement program. Currently, place‐based county extension agents implemented the program because of the agents' existing relationships in the rural community. County extension agents, with their focus on agriculture, youth development, leadership development, family and health, and community development embraced the postsecondary encouragement program as a part of their extension mission. These agents collaborated with a local school in the pilot with support and training from the central administrative office and two postsecondary encouragement organizations with extensive experience in college access. The National College Access Network provided professional development for extension agents and school personnel and a Texas based program provided summer melt interventions and virtual college advising services.</p> <p>The program also required student milestone tracking and collected student data from the schools. Each county collaborated with one school in the county for the 2‐year program pilot. Each county agent and collaborating team had $10,000 per year to implement the postsecondary encouragement at their school, and each local team developed the program within the needs of their local context. In the first year, common ways local teams spent the funds were to provide incentives and refreshments for parents and students attending evening workshops, provide incentives to students for taking steps to prepare for college, take students on college campus visits, and provide guest speakers on financial aid or academic preparation in high school. The program offered curriculum guidance for 8th through 12th graders. The RSSI central office provided training for county agents, coordination, and regional experts who often provided the financial aid workshops and other programs. The central office was two administrators and two regional representatives in the first years.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-9">Data collection</hd> <p>For pilot implementation, 11 schools in 11 counties were engaged in the program. These schools have a high concentration of first‐generation and low‐income students, and all but one of the evaluated schools has a lower average college‐going rate immediately after high school than the state of Texas average of 56.4%. A total of 17 face‐to‐face, phone, or video individual interviews with nine guidance counselors and eight county extension agents lasted between 45 and 60 min in length. Interviews ceased with the onset of the Covid pandemic. We asked the county extension agents and counselors about their role in the project, how the program was implemented, early outcomes, and community and school culture around students' life after high school.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-10">Data analysis and trustworthiness</hd> <p>Using the constant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref48">37</reflink>]), we analyzed verbatim transcripts independently. Following, we compared codes and themes and negotiated importance and names of themes until we reached a consensus. Our separate analyses followed by negotiation checked for possible biases in our individual analyses in a form of peer review. There was consistency in our emphases and interpretations. One of us grew up in an urban context in the Southwest, while the other in the rural Midwest. One is a Latinx man and the other a White woman. We have lived in Texas for 7 and 10 years. On three occasions, we discussed our preliminary findings and interpretation with the director of the RSSI program at the university extension office. We appreciate her peer feedback.</p> <p>The delimitations of this study are part of its qualitative nature. This study does not attempt to answer whether the program has increased college going among rural students beyond the perceptions of the counselors and extension agents and their self‐reported data for their schools. This study also does not include interviews with the students and how they made meaning of their experience in these schools with these guidance counselors. While we collected that data, it was too extensive to be a part of this paper. Second, it is strength of the program that they gave the local committee control of how they implemented the program in their school particularly in the pilot phase. Yet it limits our evaluation because of the variability in programs. Finally, this study represents the rural culture of Texas with ranching, logging, and oil drilling. The reader will need to account for possible regional differences in their interpretation.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-11">FINDINGS</hd> <p>We began this study by asking what a land‐grant postsecondary encouragement program offers to rural high school students. The data analysis identified themes related to the value of utilizing extension services to reach into these communities and the way programs used the additional financial and human resources to enrich their current efforts for students. According to self‐reporting of the 11 pilot schools, 10 showed an increase from the first to second year in the number of students who applied to a college or university.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-12">Postsecondary encouragement brought new resources and expertise to the schools</hd> <p>Many of these schools were doing decent work before the program as evidenced by their willingness to join the program and their desire to make their schools better. There were exceptional schools where counselors were already doing much of the program; one early‐college high school was a stellar example. While there were financial incentives to join the program, they were not large ($10,000). The finances may have helped create initial interest, but school counselors shared that the money would have not sustained their involvement because of the extra work involved. They stayed involved because of the support involved.</p> <p>RSSI provided collaborators and funds to enrich programs. Rural school counselors are usually a one‐person office and having support was helpful. As one counselor said, "That's been nice to have somebody else, we're collaborating." The schools welcomed staff from RSSI to do family workshops with the endorsement of the agent. Another counselor said,</p> <p>[RSSI Regional Staff], I have definitely more direct contact with her. She is wonderful. She is a hero around our place. We throw her name around frequently. She came... she was... did a great job with our parents, doing the FAFSA... She's been really helpful to me. ... I can guarantee there's been more exposure than there would have been without the RSSI.</p> <p>Families attended and were appreciative of financial aid workshops for students and families. Most schools spoke about increasing the number of students applying for aid because of the workshops and student tracking. The one school to report early hard data on FAFSA applications reported a 40% increase in applications in their first year.</p> <p>Several other school counselors talked of offering additional family meetings they had never offered before. One school used the funds to offer career and college planning workshops for parents of each grade level, beginning with introducing eighth grade students and parents to college preparatory curriculum tracks. With grant funds and innovative ideas from the committee, schools were able to offer incentives for attendance (e.g., iPad drawing), simple meals for families attending, and/or new ways to promote the programs (radio and newspaper ads) which increased attendance.</p> <p>The RSSI also allowed the local committees to use their funds to bring school counselors to professional development workshops. Those counselors who attended spoke very highly of the National College Access Network conference, which enhanced their enthusiasm and knowledge. Counselors saw the other professional development offerings, such as the curriculum resources, as less valuable. Counselors tended to use their own materials that were familiar.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-13">Student tracking brought intentionality to counselors' efforts</hd> <p>About half of the counselors talked about the structure and student data tracking required for participation in the program as making them better counselors. The tracking of career and college preparation milestones for each student assured that all students got attention. Ardoin ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref49">3</reflink>]) wrote about counselors doing haphazard programming for early high school students because of understaffing, and this postsecondary encouragement program with its milestones brought structure to that early intervention for some schools. As one north Texas counselor said, "It's got like a little graphic and it shows how many students have met this milestone and this milestone. That kind of information I think is interesting." She is also using the achievement of milestones by the students as a way for students to earn their "ticket" to go on the all‐day college tour. She added,</p> <p>My planning, that's probably the biggest benefit of what I see from our participation so far is it's made me be a better counselor, not that I feel like I wasn't good. But it's just... It's made sure like... I plan by the month... And if I'm meeting those goals, then my students have a greater chance of meeting those goals. I would say, we've... I completed more activities with more students than I think I would have without the push of the initiative. As a result of that, I think I have more students that are... they're thinking. They know their personality type. They've at least got some data from interest inventories. They've had that opportunity, the forced opportunity to search for careers, and colleges where those programs are offered. I don't know what the result will be, but I can guarantee there's been more exposure than there would have been without the RSSI.</p> <p>Rural counselors in Ardoin's ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref50">3</reflink>]) study tended to fill their time responding to the students who came to them; in contrast the milestone tracking in this program helped counselors reach out to the students who needed support but were not asking. It is also important that students knew their counselors were tracking them so they were more likely to take timely steps which is consistent with prior research suggesting students left to their own devices can delay or fail to take the steps due to a natural tendency to focus on the present rather than long‐term goals (Dynarski et al., [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref51">16</reflink>]; Ross et al., [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref52">35</reflink>]). Taking the intervening steps like admissions testing and financial aid in a timely manner are predictors of college enrollment but are susceptible to student inertia or small barriers like not knowing how to pay for the test. The results nationally on the effectiveness of simple reminders or nudges are mixed (Gurantz et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref53">20</reflink>]; Hoxby & Turner, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref54">21</reflink>]), but in this instance the nudges are coming from their known counselor rather than an anonymous third party and it was working. This difference between a third‐party nudge and providing structure for the counselor to nudge and the results here may be an important distinction that merits further research.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-14">College tours were important to students visualizing their future</hd> <p>Campus visits were powerful experiences for students in visualizing themselves as college students. As one counselor shared, most of her students rarely left their home counties, except by bus for sporting competitions to other small towns. This left the students with limited exposure to the "outside world." More than half of the counselors reported that parents do not know to the value of college visits or have the financial resources to take their children on campus tours. Through RSSI, the school provided more college visits that helped students visualize life as college students. One counselor reported that in the two weeks after taking her junior class to visit two universities, <emph>"Nine students came in and said, 'I think I can go to college now.' And these were kids who didn't plan to before."</emph> She and other counselors reported the students could visualize themselves in college after visiting. Multiple high schools used RSSI funds to finance the college tours and would not have gone without the funds. Students and counselors spoke of the power of these visits. Torres ([<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref55">38</reflink>]) and Rendón and Munoz ([<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref56">34</reflink>]) both talk about the importance for Latino college students to be able to visualize themselves as successful scholars. While these are high school students and not college students, the same self‐visualization most likely applies. These preliminary results may also help prevent students from undermatching by providing opportunities to visit campuses outside their local community (Koricich et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref57">25</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-15">RSSI and schools chose to empower parents</hd> <p>Most of the programs chose to use part of their RSSI program funds to involve and educate parents. Schools offered workshops on college readiness or financial aid for parents and students together. As one extension agent shared, <emph>"They're [parents] listening to something they've never heard before. Nobody's telling them this stuff...They're happy that they're learning and getting this information."</emph> These parents play a powerful role in their children's choice to stay local or go away to college and their students' persistence once enrolled, so involving them in the process is important (Byun et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref58">14</reflink>]; McDonough et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref59">28</reflink>]). The most encouraging counselors invited parents along on the college tours. Parents also needed to visualize their children's lives at school. When parents talk about fears about college to the agents and counselors, it is how they will physically survive without the parents. How will they get to school, etc.?</p> <p>We heard a philosophy of empowering parents to be a part of the college choice process in most of the schools. Too often postsecondary encouragement programs try to fill the parent role for low‐income students, so it was strength of this program that they were educating parents to be a part of their child's process. While counselors and extension agents wanted higher attendance, the attendance was higher than many other school programs. Two schools reported 60%–80% of parents attending workshops on planning for life after high school or financial aid.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-16">Finances as a factor in the college choice process</hd> <p>Many rural parents want their children to go to college, but do not see it as a realistic possibility. They cannot afford it. This financial barrier is not news to scholars, but merited mentioning; and it is important to note that counselors talked extensively about the financial concerns too. One counselor, when talking about parents, "Maybe trapped by their finances. Maybe the parents themselves aren't against but the parents realize, we as a family, cannot support you to go, financially. That's what I see is the biggest barrier." Their perceptions of students' ability to pay for college appeared to influence the advice they gave students. One counselor spoke of her repeated mantra "Graduate from college without debt," which meant she encouraged students to start local. Yet, research suggests counselors may lack the expertise to help (Ardoin, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref60">3</reflink>]) which makes the hands‐on financial aid workshops by the RSSI regional staff so valuable. The most popular workshops provided by the regional staff members were their financial aid session for families. Most of the schools reported FAFSA application numbers were up in the first year because of the RSSI. Some reported a 5% increase. Prior research on FAFSA completion showed that this one intervention was associated with an increase in college going (Bettinger et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref61">8</reflink>]). The tracking of student data contributed to this increase as students knew their counselors were interested in their applying for aid.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-17">County extension agents were important to bringing the program to the school</hd> <p>The postsecondary encouragement programs' introduction by the county extension agents who are well known and local encouraged the school to adopt the RSSI program. Generally, the rural culture, especially among low‐income families, is distrustful of things or individuals from the outside, especially if they come in as experts (McDonough et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref62">28</reflink>]). School personnel who often grew up rural themselves also have this distrust. County extension agents were active in their communities and were important to overcoming this mistrust. Often county agents talked about serving on a committee at the school, collaborations with teachers, or having relatives in the school which made them insiders to the school community. In reference to the county extension agent's involvement, one West Texas counselor said</p> <p>He meets with us and gives us some input. Mostly my husband, the superintendent, is more in direct contact with him on day‐to‐day type functions that are going on. But he is involved with our kids. He comes to the school periodically. He's involved in our research projects that your students do and provides some help through that. His AgriLife extension is a big resource for us.</p> <p>The time spent in the community by the agents had built the trust illustrating one of the principles of Burkhart‐Kriesel et al. ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref63">13</reflink>]) study on land‐grant extension services success in helping communities thrive.</p> <p>Over time, the role of the county extension agent diminished in some schools. While school personnel saw the agents as community leaders, the school and sometimes the agents themselves did not see the county extension agents as experts in college access. Therefore, school personnel tended to dominate the agenda of the local implementation. Agents thus fell back into a supporting or facilitator role. Several agents desired a larger role for themselves and would like more countywide efforts, while others were already busy in their regular duties and were content with a supporting role. Several counselors saw the agent as an ally in tasks that they had formerly done alone. Several counselors talked of being reinvigorated rather than feeling isolated in their work.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-18">Cultural differences between universities and schools</hd> <p>There were initial tensions between the postsecondary encouragement model and high school culture. In the RSSI plan, a community committee including the agent and school personnel set goals for the program and had financial authority and a budget to implement those plans, but school personnel were accustomed to centralized decision‐making where the principal has final say on all planning and money. Agents also filled a translator role as the university central staff did not always understand the rhythm of the high school in these rural communities. One extension agent reported that the school personnel had told him, "Your organization doesn't understand our high schools..." School personnel are familiar with school volunteers, but not as collaborators who share leadership, therefore the community leadership team for RSSI was an adjustment for the school staff. Several agents spoke of teachers not willing to act without the principal's or superintendent's approval. Similarly, in a couple of settings, the senior school official overruled committee plans for spending which sometimes reduced enthusiasm in the committee. One agent quoting a counselor said,</p> <p>I'm not the person who needs to make that decision as far as what we spent the money on,' and then it goes to their higher ups and then when it comes back to us, it may be completely different than what the group talked about.</p> <p>Another agent pointed out, "The school is used to just getting the money and doing it," so there was some adjustment. Yet counselors were appreciative of the extra support and not feeling alone in their work. As one school counselor said</p> <p>There is programming that we have used that comes from the Ag Extension office, and she's helped me arrange and make connections with speakers and things like that to come in, and support. I can't say that they've done the bulk of anything, but I like having... I guess I like having somebody outside of the school, because in a small school especially, like I'm the only person here...They're kind of partners in crime.</p> <p>Even though the program had the university's name in the extension title, school personnel trusted that the postsecondary encouragement program was not about recruitment of the university. Schools were already doing career and college planning, so school personnel saw RSSI as an add‐on that enriched their existing programming. Hoxby and Turner ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref64">21</reflink>]) recommend that the postsecondary encouragement program come from a third party rather than university admissions offices and this program illustrates their point. Because of the extension agent involvement, school administrators did not see it as recruitment efforts from the university and trusted the agenda was general postsecondary encouragement. Further, because schools usually merged RSSI with their existing efforts and did not focus on promoting the branding of the RSSI program, students also did not associate the program with the one university. Students often experienced RSSI as a regular part of their school and were unaware of the RSSI program.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-19">DISCUSSION</hd> <p>Postsecondary encouragement programs fit naturally into the service/extension role of a land‐grant institution and can broaden the land‐grant profile. Rural parents and schools want the best for their children, but they are not always equipped. A third party can enrich communities and enrich the work of counselors. County extension agents' implementation of the RSSI built these communities similar to hosting 4H programs or enhancing agricultural practices. The extension agents for health and family probably connected more than the agricultural, but both were very committed to the families in their counties. For the university to develop this program through the extension office also helped removed the potential mistrust of outsiders (McDonough et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref65">28</reflink>]) and possible confusion about the university having a recruitment agenda.</p> <p>Each small rural high school does not have the resources to hire a college admissions expert as there are more pressing skills needed in their school counselor (student mental health, career planning, etc.). Therefore, the small staff of the RSSI was able to offer this expertise to counselors in 11 pilot schools in the first year. Rural families trusted experts from the outside when they came through the school, and this is an efficient way to reach rural students. The Covid‐19 pandemic has also shown us that virtual presentations and advising sessions for students may be an effective way to reach students spread across a large geographic region. The RSSI is a relatively low‐cost program with a small, centralized staff that is, showing promising early results. Some postsecondary encouragement programs, such as Upward Bound, are much more high touch, but much more expensive as well. While Koricich ([<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref66">24</reflink>]) rightly argues we have a moral responsibility to bear the expense to recruit rural students, the financial pressures all universities are experiencing with reduced state investment make this difficult. This approach of empowering local schools with professional development for staff and research‐based support services (like data tracking and regional exerts who provided presentations for parents) is a cost‐effective option for land‐grant universities in raising college‐going. County extension agents are already established in rural counties and have relationships with the school and community.</p> <p>The RSSI met several of the criteria from prior research for effective postsecondary encouragement programming. Hoxby and Turner's ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref67">21</reflink>]) research indicates the combination of information and guidance was necessary to change student behavior. The RSSI program offered the guidance from someone they know (their high school counselor and county extension agent), combined with more accurate information about financial aid, admissions requirements, etc. from workshops by RSSI staff.</p> <p>Abrams et al. ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref68">1</reflink>]) argued that land‐grant universities must link their research and service roles and this program did that. By including a rigorous evaluation of the pilot program, the university extension office supported research on the extension services and are broadening our knowledge of rural students' college choice and the efficacy of an extension‐based postsecondary encouragement program. Part of our research agenda was to offer insights whether the institution should expand this program into more schools and more counties. While quantitative data will assess whether more students are enrolling and completing college, this qualitative analysis offers insights about how the program is working. The vision of a robust community collaboration did not materialize in some of the counties, yet the attention from the community changed all the schools and counselors. Parent meetings with novel approaches to engage parents resulted in better attendance in multiple schools. Outsiders brought new ways of doing things to the school. Sometimes it was as simple as changing the name of a meeting from "Meeting with the Superintendent" to "Life After High School" which better interested parents.</p> <p>Campus visits were usually not a part of the schools' regular budgets, but the postsecondary encouragement program facilitated those trips. Counselors saw strong responses from students after they had been on the campuses and were able to visualize themselves there. It was also an opportunity to include low‐income parents on these trips, turning parents into allies about their children going away to school and reducing parents' fears.</p> <p>Increasing counselors' intentionality and frequency of contact with all students was an important feature and was important to equalizing opportunity between income and ethnic groups. In our interviews with students, students of color reported less frequent contact with school counselors. Counselors reported that regular tracking of all students' milestones caused the counselors to initiate contact with students who had not completed milestones, therefore reaching out to more students, and reaching out more frequently. Research has shown that counselor conversations with students about their future and students' beliefs that the counselor encouraged them to go to college were predictive of students applying for college (Bryan et al., [[<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref69">11</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref70">10</reflink>]]), therefore the counselor asking students whether they had narrowed their list of colleges or filed a FAFSA most likely increased the odds those students would apply for and enroll in college.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-20">Areas of growth</hd> <p>Based on prior research, there were program features we were hoping to see more frequently. Educating students and parents on college net price was lacking which perpetuated the focus on 2‐year colleges and low‐cost institutions associated with undermatching (Koricich et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref71">25</reflink>]; Ross et al., [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref72">35</reflink>]) which is associated with lower completion rates (Bowen et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref73">9</reflink>]). Counselors focused on getting students to apply somewhere more than on where they should apply. Counselors often focused on students starting at local less expensive community colleges without acknowledging the lower completion rates at the 2‐year schools. Because these were low‐income high schools, more emphasis on applying broadly with fee waivers and then selecting based on net price would have also been a strong strategy, particularly for academically strong students (Byndloss et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref74">12</reflink>]; Dynarski et al., [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref75">16</reflink>]; Hoxby & Turner, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref76">21</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-21">CONCLUSION</hd> <p>It would be a disservice to the program to end with areas of growth when this program shows such promise for being a cost‐effective way to reach rural students. This postsecondary encouragement program which promotes college going and not a particular campus was able to engage students in earlier planning, informs students about financial aid options, increased FAFSA applications, increased parent knowledge and involvement, and facilitated more personalized guidance from their local school counselor. Several of the best practices we saw were student milestone tracking, campus visits, and parent engagement. Typical programs like standardized testing support were present at some schools, but counselors did not see these as the key features of the program.</p> <p>County extension agents were important gatekeepers to these communities for the postsecondary encouragement program. Despite their limited expertise on college choice or financial aid, the school counselors saw the county agents as collaborators in at least half the schools and the community engagement in the schools brought fresh ideas into the school and support for counselors.</p> <p>Self‐reported results show promise that this type of program increases rural college‐going. Raising the educational attainment in rural communities enhances those communities and therefore the state and nation. State policy makers are looking for ways to increase the educational attainment in their states and including rural students is an essential part of that. Policy makers have three potential policy approaches: increase financial access, increase academic preparation, and increase aspirations and planning through postsecondary encouragement. This type of postsecondary encouragement program shows early promise as addressing the student aspirations and planning portion.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-22">AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS</hd> <p>Musoba designed the study, Lopez and Musoba both conducted interviews and data analysis. Musoba authored the first draft of this paper, Lopez provided edits for a second draft. Both authors wrote substantial sections.</p> <hd id="AN0177193311-23">ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS</hd> <p>This research was supported by the Greater Texas Foundation through the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Services under Grant 02 ‐ 424181. 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Narrowed gaps and persistent challenges: Examining rural‐nonrural disparities in postsecondary outcomes over time. American Journal of Education, 126 (1), 1 – 32.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Zimdahl, R. L. (2003). The mission of land grant colleges of agriculture. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 18 (2), 103 – 115.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Glenda Droogsma Musoba and Juan Lopez</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Dr. Glenda Droogsma Musoba is an associate professor in the Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on educational policy and student access and success in postsecondary education, particularly for underrepresented groups. She received her PhD in higher education from Indiana University in 2004.</p> <p>Juan Lopez, PhD, is a first‐generation Latino male born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, California. He graduated with his doctorate in higher education administration from at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on the attrition, access, retention, and degree completion of Latino/x males across a P‐20 education pipeline. His other research interests and scholarly research has focused on the college choice process of rural students in the state of Texas, and the role that being an English learner plays in the academic success and degree completion of Latina/o/x/ne students. His dissertation was titled "Exploring the Academic Experiences of Latino/x males in Higher Education through Mentoring." He is passionate about student success, whether it is helping students achieve degree completion or simply providing academic support necessary for students to succeed academically.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref27"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref33"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref40"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref46"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref55"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref56"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref58"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref63"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref66"></nolink>
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PubType: Academic Journal
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Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Rural Postsecondary Encouragement through a Land Grant University County Extension Office
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Glenda+Droogsma+Musoba%22">Glenda Droogsma Musoba</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6267-1067">0000-0002-6267-1067</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Juan+Lopez%22">Juan Lopez</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3360-0892">0000-0002-3360-0892</externalLink>)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22New+Directions+for+Higher+Education%22"><i>New Directions for Higher Education</i></searchLink>. 2024 (205):19-34.
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 16
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2024
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22High+Schools%22">High Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rural+Schools%22">Rural Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22High+Schools%22">High Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Counselors%22">School Counselors</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Extension+Agents%22">Extension Agents</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Land+Grant+Universities%22">Land Grant Universities</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Extension+Education%22">Extension Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22County+Programs%22">County Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Attainment%22">Educational Attainment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Post+High+School+Guidance%22">Post High School Guidance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Outreach+Programs%22">Outreach Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Counseling%22">Educational Counseling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Financial+Aid%22">Student Financial Aid</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Enrollment+Influences%22">Enrollment Influences</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Texas%22">Texas</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1002/he.20483
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0271-0560<br />1536-0741
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Rural students graduate from high school at higher rates but go to college at lower rate than their urban and suburban peers. To take on the educational attainment challenge for rural students, we need to know more about postsecondary encouragement programs. This study examined a pilot postsecondary encouragement program in 11 rural high schools with two questions: How do high school counselors support students' plans for life after high school through a land-grant outreach program? How is a university outreach program utilized in these schools? This qualitative case study used 17 individual interviews with school counselors and county extension agents. According to school counselors, the postsecondary encouragement program increased financial aid applications and student interest in college going. County extension agents were a trusted bridge between the program and the local high schools. Tracking student milestones helped school counselors serve all students, and program experts provided workshops for students and parents. Campus visits helped students visualize themselves as college students, yet financial concerns dominated the students' college choices.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2024
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1424113
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1424113
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1002/he.20483
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 16
        StartPage: 19
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Rural Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: High Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: School Counselors
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Extension Agents
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Land Grant Universities
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Extension Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: County Programs
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational Attainment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Post High School Guidance
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Outreach Programs
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational Counseling
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Financial Aid
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Enrollment Influences
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Texas
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Rural Postsecondary Encouragement through a Land Grant University County Extension Office
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Glenda Droogsma Musoba
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Juan Lopez
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 03
              Type: published
              Y: 2024
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0271-0560
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1536-0741
          Numbering:
            – Type: issue
              Value: 205
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: New Directions for Higher Education
              Type: main
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