“How a rural community college makes sure its students get to their classes, one car at a time.”

Lenoir Community College is among a growing number of institutions that are recognizing that transportation can be an immense barrier to education, especially for working and parenting students. The Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation, a family foundation that researches higher education, found that only 57 percent of community-college main campuses across the country are transit accessible — meaning just under 600 institutions are not within walking distance of public transportation. The foundation is building maps that chart transit stops near all branch and satellite campuses for community and technical colleges in each state.

“Some students are one flat tire away from dropping out,” said Abigail Seldin, the foundation’s CEO and co-founder.

According to a College Board survey, the average cost of transportation for an in-district, public community-college student during the 2021-22 academic year is $1,840, or nearly 10 percent of the estimated average student’s budget for the academic year.

“We know that many Americans cannot easily manage an unexpected $400 expense,” Seldin said. “When you view transportation access for college students through that lens, it becomes clear pretty quickly that a flat tire is a potentially college-career-ending event.”

Seldin said the issue varies greatly based on location. For many campuses, she said, the problem could be easily solved with more communication between the college and their local transit authority. In North Carolina, for example, 17 percent of campuses are less than five miles from an existing transit line but have yet to be connected.

Rural community colleges are an entirely different beast, one that requires new and creative solutions to help low-income students bridge the transportation gap. And one of the unspoken costs of attending those colleges is car ownership.

“Car ownership, or at least car access, is part of the cost of attendance, whether we or the colleges think about it that way or not,” Seldin said. “Right now, it’s illegal to buy a car with your federal student aid. State and local programs that try to fill that gap are doing a critical service for students.”

That’s where a program like Cars for College comes in. Seldin said its model was new to her and that it presented a potential solution for rural campuses.

For students who are not only attending college but are also working and parenting, transportation becomes increasingly complicated. A car, Kennedy said, can be the difference between employment and unemployment in a place like Lenoir County, where public transit is so limited. And having independent transportation means more flexibility for child care, attending classes, and working extra hours.