I recently moved to Homestead, Florida, and one of my duties now is to look for a job. As I do research on the possibilities I become more aware of the need for having a higher education degree. I notice that jobs which offer an annual salary and benefits such as health care require a bachelor’s degree at least. All of these reminded me of Senate Bill 442 in Oregon which summon the joint board of education to conduct a study of approaches to increase student enrollment and student success for rural residents at institutions of higher education including community colleges.

Working for the last three years in rural communities I started to ponder, what would be the most effective approaches to increase and retain students from rural communities in postsecondary education?  It did not take long to come up with some possibilities:

1. Having a policy that obligates their current employer to support their employees to obtain a degree. For example, adjusting to the student’s schedule.
2. An increase of university counselors holding classes or meetings regarding the benefits of higher education and talking about the services that students can receive such as childcare. I would argue that more outreach to high school students would help.
3. Arranging a system to offer transportation to campus. It can be a state transportation system or the educational institution itself having their own.
4. Increasing student jobs within the school, this would help them to earn money between classes.
5. Offering more programs free of cost such as tutoring and mentoring. Mentoring - Pairing teachers with students to help them feel supported and encourage.
6. Role Models: Holding seminars where professionals would talk about their jobs and how they surpass barriers in their personal life.
7. Institutions offering the right careers that would enable students to find a job in their rural hometown. This includes linking community development efforts by local government and leaders with higher education. Informing students about the future of their local hometown and how this will impact the need for professionals.
8. Institutions having a partnership with local businesses so students can enjoy a paid, meaningful internship. In addition, these local businesses should give priority to local rural students when it comes to hiring.
9. An internet job board would be a great idea for those students that are studying away from their rural area. In this place the students would be able to see all the jobs around their area. This internet board would have to have a brief description of the job, the salary range, and the benefits so it would be easy to read and very appealing for students to come back to their rural towns.

As I was writing these ideas, I wonder what people who actually live in rural communities think. If you could help to write the recommendations report, what would you include? I would like to hear your ideas. I know that this is a difficult question; we all might have different perspectives on this issue. But we all have the right to speak up. The truth is that when it comes to making changes from the state capital one thing is to draft the policies and another one is to implement it.

The joint board must submit a report of its findings and recommendations by October 1, 2010.

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