The monograph, written for persons and organizations at state and local levels who share concern about learning activities for adults in rural America, explores characteristics of three traditional providers of nonformal education (the Cooperative Extension Service, public libraries, and community service divisions of community colleges), assesses their responsiveness to rural adult needs, and notes benefits of rural free universities. Four criteria are used to assess responsiveness of these programs: active user engagement, pluralism, affirmation of rural values and culture, and a stable institutional base with access to learning resource tools. Evaluation indicates that the three traditional providers have strong institutional stability but do not effectively meet the other three criteria. The rural free university, based on the assumption that anyone can teach and anyone can learn, is assessed as being effective in the other three criteria, but with a weak institutional base. The rural free university model and its success in Kansas are described. Integration of the rural free university model into central operations of the Cooperative Extension Service, public libraries, and community service divisions in community college is suggested as being of great potential benefit to thousands of rural Americans, while greatly enhancing public perception and support for these institutions. (Author/MH)