$1.2 million dollar grant aims to help rural Wyomingites access post-secondary education

The University of Wyoming has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to increase access to post-secondary education in rural areas of the state. Post-secondary education can include degrees, including Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and advanced degrees, as well as certificates and certifications.

The program will focus on hiring and training College and Career Readiness Advisors, as well as training college students to act as mentors to answer questions and provide guidance to rural high school students, and in getting these students on to college campuses across the state to familiarize them with the environment.

Wyoming currently ranks 24 of the 50 states in terms of post-secondary educational attainment. 51.6% of Wyomingites between the ages of 25 to 64 have earned some significant post-secondary credentials. This is lower than the national average of 51.9%, and lower than many of Wyoming’s neighbors, including Nebraska (54.9%), Utah (55.8%), and Colorado (61.0%).

The official UW announcement says that the grant will allow the College of Education to “provide high school-age students and local community leaders with tools to improve enrollment and graduation rates among Wyoming’s rural students.”

A variety of different initiatives will be funded by this grant.

The first is a program that will provide training for College and Career Readiness (CCR) Advisors in rural communities across the state.

“The idea behind training CCR advisors is to provide more people with the knowledge and information they need to support students as they navigate the world of applying for college, understanding registration, scholarship deadlines, and how to pay for school,” Colby Gull, managing director of the UW Trustees Education Initiative, the leading department for the program, said.

The second is a program that will train current college students to mentor a high school student.

“Additionally, we are working on getting current college students to serve as mentors to the rural high school students. These college mentors will serve as a resource to our high school participants. Our theory here is that if the high school students have a connection to someone on campus that can answer questions and share things that they are working on while they are in school that the high school students will be better prepared for life on campus after high school,” Gull said.

Finally, the money will also be used to get rural students onto college campuses, allowing them to tour and get familiar with the campus.

“When students get on campus early they feel more comfortable going to school on those campuses. The more students we can get to be on campus the more likely they will be to enroll in those schools,” Gull said.

“I was a rural, low-income, first-generation college student. I did not understand all of the opportunities that existed for me, I was kind of left on my own to figure things out,” Gull said. “I want to make sure that students in our High Altitude Pathway program understand all of the opportunities and resources that are available to them so college is not so scary or overwhelming.”

The funding represents a significant step for the education initiative started by former Governor Matt Mead, who in 2018 noted “It is said that it takes a village…. in Wyoming, we are that village. As a whole, we will work together to increase the percentage of the working population that possesses a valuable post-secondary credential to 67% by 2025.”