President Biden's infrastructure package includes $65 billion for improving broadband. That money could make a big difference for rural college students, who are especially disconnected.

Transcript

NOEL KING, HOST:

In the infrastructure bill that President Biden is going to sign into law today, there are $65 billion for broadband access in rural areas and tribal communities. Among the beneficiaries - college students who are still going to class online. NPR's Elissa Nadworny is following this one. Hey, Elissa.

ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: Good morning.

KING: So what could this mean for college students?

NADWORNY: Well, according to research from the Hope Center at Temple University, about 40% of college students have struggled with internet access during the pandemics. The real number could be much higher. And poor internet might be one factor that enrollment is down across the board, especially at community colleges.

KING: OK, 40% is a very high number, and you say it might not even be the real number. I would imagine this is a particularly big problem in rural areas, yeah?

NADWORNY: Absolutely, yeah, in parts of Appalachia and tribal communities.

You know, for a long time, the logic here was there isn't a market, right? There's not enough people. They live too far apart from each other to merit high-quality, high-speed, affordable broadband. And the infrastructure bill could change that, especially for people living in tribal communities like the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the U.S.

Here's how Christopher Ali, who studies internet access at the University of Virginia, explains it.

CHRISTOPHER ALI: We know, we know, we know this problem is solvable because it's not a matter of technology. It's a matter of politics and market, right? By constantly prioritizing not only the private market, but prioritizing the largest providers who have no incentive - no financial incentive - to serve the Navajo Nation, they're not going to get served.

NADWORNY: So the infrastructure bill aims to kind of realign those incentives.

KING: You went to the Navajo Nation.

NADWORNY: Yeah.

KING: And what did you hear there?

NADWORNY: Well, I spent a week there talking with students about how their lives have been affected by poor internet connections. And I want to introduce you to a student I met there.

Faylene Begay lives on the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona. And her home, where she lives with her four children, has Navajo teachings and blessings pinned up on the wall.

FAYLENE BEGAY: This one is don't get mad - is (non-English language spoken).

NADWORNY: She's been taking college classes for several years at Dine College, the nation's oldest tribal college.

BEGAY: Oh, can we just - can I just sign on to my Zoom real quick?

NADWORNY: She's working towards a degree in health occupations. She's logged into a pre-calculus class when we visit.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Faylene, you're actually taking your knowledge check now, aren't you?

BEGAY: Yes, I'm doing the tools tutorials.

NADWORNY: She does the practice problems in a notebook with her daughter's bright pink marker.

BEGAY: The markers are more fun and vivid (laughter).

NADWORNY: Her college education - it almost got completely derailed when campuses closed in spring of 2020. Internet access was a major challenge. She didn't have a home connection. All she had was an old cellphone, and it wasn't powerful enough to upload assignments.

BEGAY: Doing the work alone is a lot of work, but not even able to submit it is just more tragic.

NADWORNY: Her professors were understanding. But if they couldn't see her work, she couldn't get credit for it. She ended up passing but didn't do so well.

BEGAY: That alone just kind of, like, depleted my purpose or, like, made me feel like I was defeated by the internet.

NADWORNY: Begay didn't sign up for classes the next semester. She was sick of fighting with the internet. Around that time, about three hours away at Dine College's main campus in Tsaile, Ariz., Charles "Monty" Roessel, the college's president, was focused on transitioning classes online, too.

CHARLES MONTY ROESSEL: I remember sitting back in my chair. I said, we did it. We're done.

NADWORNY: He quickly realized that students like Faylene Begay weren't able to receive the signal the college was sending out.

ROESSEL: We didn't think about the idea that somebody has to access the course, right? It was just a one-way. It's online.

NADWORNY: So the college shifted its focus to student access. It used federal CARES Act money to help purchase Wi-Fi hotspots and laptops for students. The college - which serves students across 27,000 square miles on the reservation, which spans multiple states - also built two additional microcampuses with internet in Utah and New Mexico so students didn't have to drive as far to get connected. But internet, Roessel says, is still a major problem.

ROESSEL: We've got to look at the big picture and not just these little wins.

NADWORNY: Sure, Wi-Fi hotspots, the new microcampuses help, he says, but they have limitations.

ROESSEL: Don't get me wrong, it is helpful. But there's a larger issue here.

NADWORNY: The much bigger need is for adequate infrastructure to provide reliable, quality home internet service.

But those little wins - they did help Faylene Begay. Last spring, she decided it was time to go back to school.

BEGAY: Everything just revolves around the internet. So if you don't have it...

NADWORNY: She trails off, looking out the window.

BEGAY: It's kind of like, you have to make sure that you do.

NADWORNY: She now has a free Wi-Fi hotspot from the college and home internet, though neither option is particularly strong. Her internet can cut in and out, especially when it's windy. Twice now, she's had to give class presentations without her planned visuals because the internet wasn't stable enough. Her online chemistry labs require too much bandwidth to do at home, so she drives to a satellite campus - now open with limited hours - to use the school's internet.

BEGAY: I do the best that I can, and I just try to stay positive. And I do not let bad internet bother me anymore.

NADWORNY: Being back in class though has offered her a lifeline, a connection to professors and classmates at a time when she feels really alone.

BEGAY: I went through a really bad depression during the time that the pandemic hit.

NADWORNY: She was dealing with domestic violence, homelessness and a recent miscarriage. She mentions the Navajo word hozho to describe her reenrollment. It means balance and beauty, a state of harmony. Her persistence and focus - it's left an impression on her children. On her fridge, she's taped up a photo of herself in a lab coat looking into a microscope.

BEGAY: My son, when he sees this, he says, you know, my mom's a scientist. I'm going to be a scientist, too.

KING: I appreciate her ambition and his. And this big investment from the infrastructure bill is hopefully going to help students like Faylene. What is the next step, though?

NADWORNY: So experts say getting good internet to rural communities is going to take a while, whether it's months or years. That's going to be up to states and localities, because they've got to decide where they're going to use the money and then they've got to actually implement programs, dig wire, build the infrastructure. And then, of course, they've got to maintain those programs once they're established.

KING: Thanks for your reporting, Elissa. We appreciate it.

NADWORNY: Oh, you're welcome. Thank you.

KING: NPR's Elissa Nadworny.

(SOUNDBITE OF RYKARD'S "NORTH CORMORANT OBSCURITY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.