This ERIC Digest reports on the educational aspirations of rural youth compared with students living in urban and suburban areas. Research indicates that in comparison to urban youth, rural young people felt their parents were much more supportive of their taking full-time jobs, attending trade schools, or entering the military rather than attending college. These lower educational aspirations accompanied lower values for making a lot of money, and higher values for simply making good incomes, having secure jobs, and maintaining friendships. The circumstances that contribute to lower educational aspirations among rural youth include: (1) the strong relationship between socioeconomic status and educational outcomes, i.e., students who come from low-income circumstances have lower educational aspirations than do their more economically advantaged peers; (2) a poverty rate that is higher in rural America than elsewhere; (3) the low educational level of rural parents which tends to influence the educational aspirations of their children; and (4) the lack of managerial and technical jobs requiring college degrees since such jobs have shifted increasingly to urban areas. Rural students cited economic and personal reasons more frequently than their urban and suburban counterparts for dropping out of high school. This report offers recommendations for schools, communities, parents, and policy makers for working together to raise the aspirations of rural youth. (LP)