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The Rural College Student Experience

The Rural College Student Experience is the only podcast dedicated exclusively to centering rural college student voices in broader conversations about higher education access and equity. Hosted by Dr. Matt Newlin (www.mattnewlin.com), each episode will feature a co-host who is a currently enrolled student from a rural community. Co-hosts will share their perspectives on higher education and the needs of students from rural backgrounds. Each episode will also feature a guest who will bring additional insight and perspectives to the rural college student experience. Guests are researchers, scholars, practitioners, or counselors whose work focuses primarily on rural students in college. Follow RCSE on Twitter at @rcsepod. The Rural College Student Experience is presented in partnership with Believe in Students (www.believeinstudents.org). Believe in Students is the nation’s only non-profit organization focused exclusively on helping college students to meet their basic needs.

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The Rural College Student Experience

Rural College Access & Retention

April 04, 2023 • Matt Newlin • Season 2 • Episode 13

We're back with a new, exciting episode talking about a critical topic in rural education: college access and retention. The intention of this podcast is elevating and amplifying rural student voices in conversations about higher education. Students from rural high schools are significantly less likely to enroll in postsecondary education compared to their non-rural peers. Roughly 30 percent of students enrolled in college come from rural or small town communities, and yet their needs are rarely taken into consideration in decision- and policy-making discussions.

In this episode, host Dr. Matt Newlin is joined by co-host Giulia Episcopo, a sophomore at Purdue University who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. After college, Giulia is interested in using chemical engineering concepts to leave a positive, lasting impact on the lives of those in local and global communities.

Our guest is Dr. Lori Pence, the Associate Director of Student Success at Purdue University’s College of Engineering. Dr. Pence was raised in a small rural community in Northwest Indiana and is, first and foremost, a champion for rural and first-generation students. She completed both her master’s and PhD at Purdue University. Her doctoral research focused on rural student success, which we discuss during this episode. Dr. Pence is an advocate of college access and success because postsecondary education is a formidable lever in allowing students the ability to overcome their circumstances and achieve their dreams.

Please be sure to follow us on Twitter (@rcsepod). You can also follow Dr. Newlin at @DrMattNewlin. Thank you for listening and be sure to subscribe to the Rural College Student Experience wherever you get your podcasts.