Rural students can't visit campuses because the nearest university is 200+ miles away

For students in rural counties — particularly in the Great Plains, Appalachia, and the rural South — the nearest four-year university can be 200-400 miles from their home. Campus visits, which admissions offices treat as a key demonstrated-interest signal, require a full day of travel each way, a hotel stay, gas money, and a parent taking unpaid time off work. A student in McCone County, Montana, is 280 miles from the nearest public university (University of Montana). So what? They can't do a campus visit, which means they can't demonstrate interest, which at many private schools directly impacts admissions decisions. So what? They apply blind to schools they've never seen, are more likely to enroll somewhere that's a bad fit, and are 3x more likely to transfer or drop out in the first year. So what? Rural college attainment rates remain stuck at 21% compared to 37% in urban areas. Why does this persist? Admissions offices design their outreach around population density — they send recruiters to high schools with 500+ seniors, not to a rural school with 12 graduates. Virtual tours exist but are passive, pre-recorded, and don't replicate the social or logistical information a visit provides (e.g., what the dorm bathroom actually looks like, whether the dining hall has food you'd eat, how students interact).