Rural cities draw younger, educated adults post-college

LINCOLN, Neb. – The stereotype that people leave small towns as soon as they can has little weight to it, according to an annual survey conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Applied Rural Innovation. \nThe center, operated by the Department of Agricultural Economics, released the results of the 2007 Nebraska Rural Poll in August. The center sent out nearly 7,000 surveys to households in all but nine Nebraska counties in March, and nearly 2,600 households responded. \n“It’s not uniformly the case that people just turn 18 and leave,” said Randy Cantrell, a senior fellow with the Center for Applied Rural Innovation and a community development specialist with the Nebraska Rural Initiative. \nSuch growth is one reason to be optimistic about the future of small towns, but Cantrell said rural communities are evenly split between those where the population is increasing and those where it is decreasing. \nHe stressed, though, that a decline in population does not necessarily sound the death knell for a small town. \nRural populations are seizing increasing opportunities to pursue higher education, according to the poll. \nNearly two-thirds of the survey’s sample had at least some college education, a number Cantrell said is expected to rise as older populations who may have skipped higher education to pursue work opportunities continue to get smaller. \n“Historically, having a college degree was less common (in rural communities), but that has been changing over time, and that gap is narrowing,” Cantrell said. “The reality is most jobs today require some kind of advanced training, even if it’s a technical certificate.” \nThat means more highly educated people are moving into or returning to \nrural communities.