Dive Brief:
- A new report from the American Council on Education urges higher education leaders and reformers to consider the challenges posed by education deserts, in which students do not have the benefit of school choice.
- Education deserts are areas with either no colleges or universities nearby or just one public, broad-access institution locally (with core-based statistical areas and commuting zones as measures of “local”) — and researchers found about 13% of the current student population attends a college in an education desert.
- According to eCampus News, minority-serving institutions are critical in expanding access for students of color in education deserts, which also include communities with large, flagship universities and only one other college option, because the flagships are moderately selective.
Dive Insight:
A great deal of federal energy has been spent in recent years to increase transparency around the college search process and ensure students have the information they need to make the best college choice. The problem with this focus, according to the ACE report, is that many students don’t have a choice, and they’re being ignored. Students for whom it is not feasible to move to attend college have only the local option, which is sometimes a sole community college. The report authors recommend further research into the issue as well as a push to expand opportunities in education deserts by making upper-level coursework and advanced academic programs available to students with limited choice.
Online education would be an obvious choice for some of these students. Much of the success of online platforms abroad has been in areas that do not have local educational infrastructure. Those students who are not self-directed learners or need face-to-face attention to succeed, however, are still left out, creating a clear equity problem nationwide.