From the Field to the Quad: An Examination of Protective and Risk Factors in U.S. Rural Students' Collegiate Success

Attending and graduating from college or university has profound influences on financial earnings and career opportunities. Beyond these financial and career benefits, attending higher education also offers social and emotional benefits. While there are many potential benefits to going on in one's education, there are known disparities in who goes on to attend universities and colleges. One such group of marginalized people are those from rural backgrounds. In the U.S. people from rural communities make up about 20% of the population. However, rural students are less likely to go on compared to their non-rural peers and even less likely to obtain their degree. This educational gap has persisted for decades and is projected to continue to widen. Fortunately, researchers, institutions, and governmental programs have sought to address the rural educational gap. However, these initiatives have predominantly focused on the transition from high school to post-secondary education. As such, little is known or understood about what factors are associated with collegiate success for rural students once they do attend colleges and universities. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine well established factors associated with collegiate success and compare them between rural and non-rural students. I used multi-group structural equation modeling to test invariance, direct effects, and moderation. Lastly, for rural students only, I examined what paths were more strongly associated with what measure of academic adjustment. After IRB approval, participants were obtained from four universities across the South and Mountain West (N = 2145; rural student n = 317). My results indicated more similarities than differences between rural and non-rural students. However, there were notable nuances based upon outcome variable. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]