Fostering Equity through Educational, Financial, and Geographic Access: A Rural Community College Typology

Despite cumulatively providing pivotal post-secondary educational opportunities for 3.4 million students in the U.S., there is a dearth of literature on rural community colleges. Therefore, we investigated the different types of rural community college locations and the role(s) of these locations. We conducted a multiple case study on Pennsylvania’s 25 rural community college locations. We examined publicly available (n=25) and shared internal, institutional data (n=6), and conducted site visits (n=7), telephone interviews (n=21), and in-person interviews (n=27). We developed a typology that included two main types, the college hub and satellite sites, with six satellite sub-types: scaled hub, focused site, outreach site, virtual site, partner site, and closing site. Additionally, we found that rural community college locations foster equity through educational, financial, and geographic access and that these institutions are invested in their local communities in unique ways. Our findings indicate a need to reassess state funding formulas and develop strategic ways to maximize the use of rural community college locations