Students in rural America still don’t have access to high-speed internet at home, despite government efforts during the pandemic to fill the void. This lack of access negatively impacts their academic performance and overall well-being. The situation has worsened as the urgency of the pandemic has diminished.
These findings are based on a new study we conducted to determine the post-pandemic prospects of internet access for rural students.
During the pandemic, school districts have quickly deployed emergency resources, such as Wi-Fi hotspots, to enable remote learning. In rural Michigan, internet connectivity in students’ homes rose to 96% at the end of 2021, a notable increase of 16 percentage points from 2019.
However, these gains appear to be temporary. By 2022, access for students in rural Michigan began to decline. Today, many more students are disconnected than at the height of the crisis. The downward trend is likely to continue as resources from pandemic relief measures decrease
We surveyed students in grades 8 through 11 from 18 schools in rural Michigan before and after the pandemic, tracking changes in their digital access, educational outcomes, and well-being. We found that a third of rural students still don’t have broadband internet at home.
Why it matters
Our recent report highlights how gaps in rural internet access, especially the lack of broadband internet access at home, have not been addressed during the pandemic. And these persistent gaps in access can impact students’ digital skills, academic performance and well-being.
Rural students who lack internet access at home face significant educational disadvantages compared to their better-connected peers. These disadvantages include lower grades in class, lower standardized test scores, lower educational aspirations, and lower interest in STEM careers. Our findings link these negative consequences, which start with gaps in access, to subsequent gaps in digital skills. These digital skills are less likely to develop without reliable broadband connectivity at home.
In early 2020, schools mobilized state and federal assistance to provide students with internet and laptops at home. Our research shows the success of these initiatives in rural areas, where school-provided Wi-Fi hotspots accounted for almost all of the 16 percentage point increase in home internet access during the peak of the pandemic. Importantly, now that hotspot funding has ended, many households have maintained access by subscribing to local internet providers.
The success of students transitioning from school-provided Wi-Fi hotspots to paid subscriptions is now in jeopardy. Many low-income households rely on the Affordable Connectivity Program, the nation’s largest initiative to make internet affordable, created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021. This program provides a monthly rebate of up to $30 for eligible households and up to $75 for households on Native. American tribal lands. The program ends in April 2024.
We found that internet access among rural students began to decline in 2022. This trend will likely accelerate with the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program.
The time young people spend online – such as surfing the internet, playing video games and interacting on social media – helps them develop valuable skills. These skills include problem solving, information literacy and creative expression. These skills apply in both digital and offline environments. Our research shows that digital skills helped rural students maintain their interest in STEM fields and their academic goals, even as these interests declined during the pandemic.
In addition, rural youth are at increased risk of social isolation. While the mental health of adolescents in our study – as measured by self-esteem – returned to pre-pandemic levels, rural students without adequate internet at home remain at greater risk.
What is still not known
A major challenge in bridging the access gap is identifying underserved areas. Accurate maps are critical to directing billions of dollars in funding from programs like the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, also known as BEAD, and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to truly underserved communities. As part of the process to receive BEAD funding, each state must identify unserved and underserved housing. Local governments, nonprofits, and internet service providers can also develop scientifically rigorous and reliable approaches to question the accuracy of these maps.
The maps must be completed and grants provided to states before large-scale infrastructure improvements can begin. However, some other early initiatives are now coming online. For example, in 2022, Michigan State University’s Quello Center, in partnership with a nonprofit regional education network, launched the Michigan MOON-Light project. This project, funded with a $10.5 million grant from the Broadband Infrastructure Program, will increase the bandwidth on Michigan’s education network made available to local service providers. These providers will deliver reliable, high-speed internet to 17,000 previously unserved households by the end of 2024.
Yet other major infrastructure improvements across the country will not be realized for several years.
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This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit organization providing facts and trusted analysis to help you understand our complex world. It was written by: Gabriel E. Hales, Michigan State University and Keith N. Hampton, Michigan State University
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Keith N. Hampton receives funding from Merit Network, Inc, and The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Gabriel E. Hales does not work for, consult with, own stock in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.