Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Rural Students Out of Reach

Most Georgetown students hail from a handful of regions: northern New Jersey, central California, southern Maryland — the list goes on. Yet although students are drawn from all over the country, rural communities are routinely neglected.

As a recent op-ed in The New York Times noted, students from rural areas face a lack of resources and finances that impede their path to prestigious universities. However, the primary reason rural students don’t end up at colleges like Georgetown has nothing to do with qualifications — these students suffer most from a lack of exposure. Universities such as Georgetown rarely recruit students in rural areas; some of these students may not have even heard of the Hilltop.

As “men and women for others” committed to expanding diversity and pluralism on campus, it is our duty to reach out to rural students and make their path to Georgetown more inviting. One way this could be accomplished is to have student ambassadors, perhaps in the form of a student club with a few administrators or faculty members, create ties with high schools in rural areas. Students could travel to these areas — perhaps over breaks — to discuss the many merits of a Georgetown education, the strength of our financial aid program and any other information that often isn’t heard in remote regions. If physical visits are too burdensome, advisers could organize phone sessions to reach out to students. This current negligence in recruitment is on the university’s shoulders, and if students do contribute to correcting that problem, the university must offer support.

A talented student from Philadelphia, Arkansas, should be just as informed about the opportunities for a Georgetown education as an equally talented student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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