Across rural Washington, small business owners are speaking up about an issue that is often framed as a student concern—but is just as much an economic one. The video “Rural Small Businesses Rallying Behind Free College” highlights a growing recognition among local entrepreneurs: tuition-free community and technical college is not a luxury, but a necessary investment in the future of rural communities.
For these business owners, free college is about more than affordability. It’s about ensuring that rural towns have the skilled workforce they need to survive and grow, and that young people don’t have to leave their communities behind in order to build stable, meaningful careers.
A Workforce Challenge Felt Close to Home
Rural communities face unique and compounding challenges. Many are grappling with aging populations, the loss of young people to urban areas, and limited access to training, certification, and career pathways. Small businesses—often the primary employers in these regions—feel these pressures directly. Finding workers with the right skills can be difficult, and the lack of accessible education only deepens the problem.
Community and technical colleges are already essential anchors in rural economies. When paired with strong workforce funding and tuition-free access, they become powerful engines for local resilience—connecting students to real jobs and employers to prepared workers.
Why Free College Makes Economic Sense
The business owners featured in the video are clear: free college is not just good policy, it’s smart economics. When tuition barriers are removed, more students can enroll, persist, and complete programs aligned with local industry needs. That means a larger, more diverse talent pool, reduced workforce shortages, and stronger local hiring pipelines.
Free college also helps address rural “brain drain.” When education is accessible close to home, students are more likely to stay in their communities, contribute their skills locally, and even start businesses of their own. For rural entrepreneurs, this isn’t about charity—it’s about building a sustainable future.
When Education and Industry Work Together
Time and again, research and lived experience show that partnerships between community colleges and local employers lead to better outcomes for everyone involved. Students gain clearer pathways to living-wage jobs, and businesses gain workers who are trained, credentialed, and ready to contribute from day one.
This is the future rural small businesses are advocating for: one where education is aligned with community needs, and public investment supports both students and local economies.
A Shared Vision for Thriving Rural Communities
What makes this message so powerful is how grounded it is in lived reality. Rural small business owners are not asking for handouts—they are asking for tools. Tools that allow them to hire locally, grow sustainably, and keep their towns vibrant for generations to come.
At Communities for Our Colleges, we know that free college is about more than access to classrooms. It’s about economic justice, workforce dignity, and ensuring that rural, working-class, and historically underserved communities are not left behind. When education becomes more accessible, rural economies become more resilient—and entire communities benefit.
Free college is not just a student issue. It’s a community solution.