Ty C. McNamee, Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi In recent years, issues that for decades have plagued rural areas have been front-and-center in mainstream news outlets, such as high rates of poverty, declining population, fewer white-collar job opportunities, and comparatively lower levels of educational success. Such issues impact rural students’ higher education attainment, a topic that news media have appeared to notice with headlines such as: “ Colleges Discover the Rural Student ,” “ The Rural Higher-Education Crisis ,” and “ For Colleges, A Rural Reckoning .” Each piece highlighted rural youth holding some of the lowest college attainment rates in the country , compared to other geographic locales.   These pieces put rural students at the forefront of higher education conversations for the first time in decades. Unfortunately, much of the discussion surrounding rural Americans frames their lives and educational experiences as deficient. In turn, my co-research...