Redefining Rural
Across the 145,509 square miles of rolling grassland and impassable mountains that make up Montana, a constellation of universities, community colleges and tribal colleges dot the landscape.
For young Montanans, the state’s rural nature long created a thorny paradigm: travel far away from home to seek out higher education, or forgo the postsecondary experience entirely. It’s a choice that has pushed talented adolescents out of their communities of origin, and has left others without the training needed to build high-paying careers in a state where the cost of living continues to rise.
To curb the drain of young, rural talent, Montana’s community and tribal colleges have embarked on a quest to expand program offerings, giving students a way to build careers and pursue degrees without leaving home. These programs have taken various forms, from commercial driver’s license certification to agricultural training grounded in Indigenous knowledge. They, too, have helped redefine what it means to go to college, and who is able to access a degree.
