If you live in a city, you can likely attend a college from your parents' house. For those of us in rural areas, that is not even remotely true.
If you intend to attend college, but live in a rural area, you have to prepare for all the expenses of living on your own, on top of quickly rising college expenses. You need a place to live, a budget for food, possibly even transportation.
There is also a general wealth disparity, since the cost of living in urban areas is generally higher, wages in urban areas are generally higher. Because of this, the average (mode) person in a rural area has a much lower income than the average person in an urban area.
In a country where education is leaving people in lifelong debt, it's not surprising that those of us who are born in rural areas are left behind.
Colleges tend to make it very easy to live in a new area, though. It's a problem that they've had to deal with for centuries, and one that they tend to be very sensitive towards.
There are dormitories and meal plans, but those can be expensive. For the frugal, most universities have their own small housing departments which help students find safe and affordable housing in the area.
But maybe there's a bit of a personality thing in how people view the experience. My grandmother, for example, cannot understand why I don't feel a strong connection and pull towards the land that I was born on. Whereas I cannot understand why anyone would.
Yes, that is true, and it does help, but it doesn't make it as easy for someone from a rural area to go to college as it is for someone in an urban area.
My point is there are a lot of factors, and a lot of bias that keep a small, but significant portion of rural youth out of college. Let's not act like these factors don't exist because we take some action to counteract them.
If you intend to attend college, but live in a rural area, you have to prepare for all the expenses of living on your own, on top of quickly rising college expenses. You need a place to live, a budget for food, possibly even transportation.
There is also a general wealth disparity, since the cost of living in urban areas is generally higher, wages in urban areas are generally higher. Because of this, the average (mode) person in a rural area has a much lower income than the average person in an urban area.
In a country where education is leaving people in lifelong debt, it's not surprising that those of us who are born in rural areas are left behind.