Mara Tieken (2025). Educated Out: How Rural Students Navigate Elite Colleges – And What it Costs Them. The University of Chicago Press.

Abstract

Mara Casey Tieken’s new book, Educated Out, offers a fascinating account of what it means and takes for rural youth to “study up” in an elite urban liberal arts college in America. This book represents a window into the struggles, challenges and opportunities faced by an underrepresented group of young people to navigate the demands of an elite institution and their local rural communities. The book draws on her qualitative longitudinal research following nine rural students, all first-generation, for more than four years in their transition into, through and out of college. Through four portraits of young people’s college experiences (i.e. applying, entering, persisting and leaving college)..