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Prior research shows that rural students' education expectations and aspirations, as well as their postsecondary enrollment and persistence rates, tend to be lower than those of nonrural students. However, much of that prior research may not apply to today's students because it uses old data or focuses on individual states or purposive samples. Meanwhile, recent policy initiatives at both the national and state levels have emphasized increasing college-going rates. Moreover, because of the rise in online learning options, high school students have more opportunities to take college preparatory courses and pursue college education without leaving home.

This study used data from the US Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to examine the postsecondary education expectations, attainment, and realization of expectations, as well as reasons for not expecting to pursue postsecondary education, among rural and nonrural Grade 10 students in the Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest Region. Key findings include: (1) approximately 90 per cent of both rural and nonrural students expected to attend college, but the percentage who expected to attain a master's degree or higher was higher among nonrural students than among rural students; (2) the reason that both rural and nonrural students reported most frequently for not expecting to pursue education beyond high school was financial concerns; (3) rural and nonrural students had similar levels of postsecondary educational attainment by 2012, eight years after expected high school graduation; and (4) almost two-thirds of both rural and nonrural students had fallen short of their Grade 10 education expectations by 2012.

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