The unpaved road: examining the rural student experience and overcoming college access barriers

Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-19 without embargo terms

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Corinne A

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lee, Sharon S
• Lee, Sharon
• Baber, Lorenzo
• Pak, Yoon
• Rockey, Marci

• Rural students
• Rurality
• College access barriers
• Overcoming barriers
• Highly selective institutions
• Highly selective university
• Ivy League
• Intersectional identities
• first-generation college students
• low-income students
• Socioeconomic status
• College generational status
• FGLI students
• Social Capital Theory
• Social capital
• Place-based lens
• Place attachment
• Sense of belonging
• Rural community
• College Admissions
• Application review, Holistic admissions
• Contextual admissions
• College transition
• Academic transition
• Social transition
• College choice
• College search
• Matriculation
• Knowledge gaps
• Experiential gap, Content gap, Contextual gap
• College-going tendencies
• College access
• High-achieving students
• Personal initiative

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Corinne Smith

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129440

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/129440