When it comes to providing higher education opportunities to students, rural young men are being overlooked.

Since 2010, male student enrollment in college has declined by 17 percent, according to a National Center for Education Statistics report. In 2021, 58 of undergraduates were female, while 42 percent were male.

The disparity is even more pronounced among rural young men, Denise Callahan, director of postsecondary success with the Ford Family Foundation, told The Oregonian for a recent article.

“It’s not a group who necessarily you think of,” she told the news outlet. “At the end of the day, anytime we have a significant group not participating in education, it’s going to come back and bite us.”