STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University has been ranked as one of the Best Colleges for Rural America by Washington Monthly, recognizing an ongoing institutional commitment to serving rural students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inaugural Best Colleges for Rural America rankings assess colleges on their ability to recruit in-state students and graduate them into in-demand fields like teaching, nursing, engineering, agriculture and natural resources management. By engaging and preparing students from rural areas to work where they are most needed, institutions like Tarleton State help their communities thrive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tarleton State joins fellow Texas A&M System institutions Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas A&M University-Victoria and Texas A&M University-Texarkana in the list\u2019s top 25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis recognition reflects our longstanding commitment to expanding educational opportunities and strengthening rural communities,\u201d said President Dr. James Hurley. \u201cAs a first-generation college student, I personally recognize that a quality education is the first step towards a student\u2019s upward mobility and community growth. We are dedicated to removing barriers and preparing students for meaningful careers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since its founding in 1899, Tarleton State has prided itself in offering an affordable, quality higher education experience. Through initiatives such as the President\u2019s Guaranteed Scholarship Program and Tarleton State Promise Program, Tarleton State actively works to remove financial barriers for students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University has been ranked as one of the Best Colleges for Rural America by Washington Monthly, recognizing an ongoing institutional commitment to serving rural students. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":55778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,425,421,426],"tags":[430,456],"class_list":["post-55777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-campus-community","category-featuredstories","category-honors-achievements","tag-academic-affairs","tag-stephenville"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"jdouglas","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/jdouglas\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/10\/Best-Rural-Colleges-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Featured Stories<\/a>","Honors & Achievements<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Featured Stories<\/span>","Honors & Achievements<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Academic Affairs<\/a>","Stephenville<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academic Affairs<\/span>","Stephenville<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 6 hours ago","modified":"Updated 8 hours ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 20, 2026","modified":"Updated on October 20, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 20, 2026 11:30 am","modified":"Updated on October 20, 2026 9:28 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55779,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55777\/revisions\/55779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}