To increase educational attainment levels, the process of preparing and applying for college needs to improve. Students need to know when to apply for financial aid, how to choose a college that matches their academic and social preferences, and develop awareness about what happens after college in terms of repaying debt and finding a job. There are many unknowns along the way, which is why so much attention today focuses on improving students’ “college knowledge” to help them navigate this process. But even if we fixed the process of college opportunity and all students became perfectly informed consumers, inequality would persist because of education deserts.

Increasingly, research suggests that where students live impacts their likelihood of attending college. Today’s college students are increasingly place-bound, working full-time, and are balancing a number of other responsibilities while taking classes. Their choices are determined by what is nearby, regardless of how much college knowledge they may have about alternative options. For them, it is not very helpful to know that a college hundreds of miles away would be a better academic fit or provide a better financial deal than the one down the road. A more intentional focus on the influence of place on student choices is driving our early understanding of what we term “education deserts,” places in all 50 states where potential students confront limited college opportunity.

Place can trump college knowledge

College knowledge resources are often developed on the premise that better and more information about colleges, their outcomes, their prices, and their demonstrated (or undemonstrated) value-add will lead to better college choices and presumably higher rates of degree completion and student satisfaction. And that may very well be true for some students, at some institutions, some of the time; we certainly want students to consider a range of college options when identifying a best-fit.

But even students with high levels of college knowledge may find themselves having few college opportunities simply because of where they live: place is an important yet too-often overlooked factor in college opportunity. Therefore, focusing on improving college knowledge will only get state and federal policymakers so far with respect to increasing educational attainment levels.

This is because many college knowledge tools have embedded into their intent, design, and presentation to end users a presumption that student choices about where to enroll in college are regional or national in scope. In reality, enrollment data indicates that for the majority of the college-going population, education markets are highly localized; students overwhelmingly attend postsecondary institutions that are close to home.

How geographically mobile are today’s students?

As Figure 1 shows below, the majority of undergraduates enroll in a college that is near where they live. Over half of community college (79 percent) and public four-year (53 percent) students enroll within just 20 miles from home. This of course varies by state, but illustrates the point that today’s college students are not as mobile as some may think. Today’s college students work full-time, care for dependents, and may not have the luxury to “shop around” for colleges far away from home. The majority of college students are not just that; they are parents, care-givers, employers and employees. In essence, they are grounded in their communities by factors and commitments that make moving great distances to pursue a postsecondary education difficult. Given this student profile, it is no surprise that geography, and specifically distance from home to a postsecondary institution, shape students’ decisions about whether and where to enroll.

“The majority of undergraduates enroll in a college that is near where they live. Over half of community college (79 percent) and public four-year (53 percent) students enroll within just 20 miles from home. This of course varies by state, but illustrates the point that today’s college students are not as mobile as some may think.”

B Brian A. Sponsler Brian A. Sponsler is director of the postsecondary and workforce development institute at Education Commission of the States, working with leadership across the states to develop sound public policy in support of student success. N Nicholas Hillman Nicholas Hillman is an assistant professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on the link between higher education finance and opportunity.

Fig. 1: Distance from student’s home (in miles) to enrolled postsecondary institution