EXCERPT: “Rural students often qualify for financial aid and supports earmarked for low-income and/or first-generation students. But the push at many private colleges and universities in Minnesota to attract and retain students based on their rural status, specifically, is a lesser-known facet of ensuring equitable access. ‘There has been a push, more recently, on rural areas. Partially because … as a higher education industry, for so long we were really focused on urban areas and underrepresented populations within that context and kind of forgot — for a little while — that there are many other groups or populations that are underrepresented in higher education,’ said Ellen Johnson, vice president of enrollment management at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. ‘So it’s exciting for me to see this as something that, nationally, people are starting to pay attention to as well.'” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2DzwnPm
