Last summer 16 institutions formed the STARS network to open their doors to more rural and small-town students. Now, thanks to a generous donation, it’s doubling in size.

ince its founding last year, the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network—a coalition of 16 public and private institutions—has sent representatives to 1,100 small-town high schools in 49 states, providing more than 700,000 rural students with the information and support they need to enroll in a bachelor’s degree program.

Now many more students are poised to receive the same help: STARS is doubling its membership to include “32 of the nation’s most prominent institutions,” according to an announcement released today. The expansion will be supported by $150 million over the next 10 years from Trott Family Philanthropies, which provided an initial $20 million for the launch.

“When I look at the sheer number of high schools we visited … it’s exponentially more than anything we could have done as individual institutions,” said Marjorie Betley, deputy director of admissions at the University of Chicago and executive director of STARS. “It was a logical next step to then say, ‘OK, this does seem to be working? Can we continue to scale it?’”