Kate Soliz sees it every day: students who say they want to go to college but don’t know how to make it happen. “We have this perception that kids are lazy or stupid — they just don’t know,” said Soliz, a college coordinator at Crook County High School. “You take a rural student and you place them in an alien environment, and they don’t know how to cope.”

Rural students in Oregon are less likely to enroll in postsecondary education and less likely to make it to the second year of college than their urban and suburban peers, according to a study released this week by education research firm REL Northwest. Of students who began ninth grade between 2005 and 2007, postsecondary enrollment among rural students was 55 percent compared to 63 percent among nonrural students. Among those who did enroll in college, the percentage of rural students who went on to the second year was 78 percent compared to 83 percent for nonrural students.

Rural students had lower rates of persistence at all types of two- and four-year institutions, in-state and out-of-state. The gaps existed for students no matter how they scored on state math and reading tests in high school.

According to the study, nearly a third of Oregon public school students attend a rural school. With the state’s goal of 80 percent of adults earning a postsecondary degree by 2025, researchers say it is important to understand which students are less likely to pursue postsecondary education and succeed in college. They also note advances in technology have increased the level of education of employees in fields common in rural areas, such as timber, agriculture and tourism.

At Crook County High, Soliz said many of her students are the first in their families to go to college and come from low-income households. Some have never seen a college campus. In 2011-12, 47 percent of the district’s students had enrolled in a community college or four-year school within 16 months of graduation, compared to 55 percent of Oregon students overall that year.

Soliz counsels parents and students on how to apply to college, secure financial aid and what to expect when they get there. Yet another challenge for students is understanding what they want to get out of college.

“It’s hard to keep going if you don’t know why you’re there,” she said, adding rural high schools must do a better job of preparing students to be successful in college. “That education needs to be back in the high school. We’re looking at the college as the problem, but something needs to happen back in the high school.”

Farther north in Culver, officials have made college exposure a priority in recent years. In 2011-12, 43 percent of Culver students had enrolled in a community college or four-year school within 16 months of graduation.

Now, beginning in fifth grade, students visit a college campus every year; by senior year they’ve visited nearly every campus in the state, said Superintendent Stefanie Garber. Kurt Davis, the district’s school-to-work and college coordinator, meets with every senior to line up job shadows and internships that help them figure out what they want to do — and what schooling it will require, including community colleges and trade schools. For those who go to college, he gives them his phone number and tells them to call whenever they run into trouble.

Davis said the district is working to make postsecondary education the norm among students. But that doesn’t make it easier.

“They’re kind of cocooned,” he said. “They’re in their little communities and they have a hard time getting out.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7837,

aspegman@bendbulletin.com