Most Afterschool Programs Offer STEM Learning, But Rural Students Lack Access

Most student programming after the final school bell offers science, technology, engineering and math activities, but rural youth still lack access, according to a recent national survey.

The Afterschool Alliance found in a newly released report that from 2020 to 2025, the percentage of parents reporting STEM education in their child’s afterschool program increased from 73% to 92%. But while the majority of rural parents said their child had access to STEM after school, only 39% reported that they participated in STEM activities at least twice a week, compared with 67% of urban parents. 

“We believe that the low frequency is due to the inability to offer it multiple times a week,” said Anita Kirshnamurthi, the nonprofit’s senior vice president of STEM. “This is borne out by what some providers tell us about what they are able to offer — a STEM coordinator might have to go to several locations to lead the STEM programs at each location and they can only do it once a week per location.”

The nonprofit’s report accompanied a national survey of afterschool and summer programs based on responses from 30,515 households from Jan. 31 to April 21, 2025. About 14,663 people were asked follow-up questions about STEM offerings afterschool.

Kirshnamurthi said the jump in afterschool STEM education is due to private funding, education advocates and the rising popularity of the field itself.

“I think the broader STEM education community really embraced and saw afterschool as a part of that STEM learning ecosystem,” she told The 74. “People now genuinely think afterschool has to be at the table when we talk about STEM education. I think enormous credit also goes to the field, because programs, practitioners and providers on the ground stepped up when they saw that kids were really interested in STEM.”

Still, these programs are out of reach for many families, according to the report. Parents of nearly 30 million children wanted afterschool access last year, but only 7 million were able to enroll. 

The report found that 84% of low-income, 73% of middle-income and 59% of high-income families surveyed didn’t have access to afterschool programs. Parents said the top benefits were access to physical activity, reading and writing, outdoor experiences and healthy food. 

Afterschool Alliance found opportunities for afterschool STEM learning, whether at schools, boys and girls clubs, community centers, parks and recreation centers, libraries, etc., varied depending on where the students live. About 85% of families residing more than 30 miles from a metropolitan area said their child’s program had a STEM component, according to the report, versus 90% of households located closer to a city and 96% of urban families.

Families living in metro areas valued STEM more than those in more remote locations. Only 55% of rural parents said STEM learning was a priority when choosing an after-school program compared to 75% of urban parents.

Kirshnamurthi said it’s hard for the nonprofit to dig into why parents responded that way, but her perception is that the value in rural areas is lower partly because STEM is less common there in general.

“I think there’s more investment in urban areas as well, both in afterschool programs but also in STEM because you have more industry, more funders, more universities,” she said. “Does less exposure mean that you don’t think about [STEM] as much, and so your demand for it is less, or is it that you are genuinely thinking that it doesn’t matter as much? It’s just really hard for us to know.”