Any place that isn’t within ~90 minutes of a public university or cc probably also is underserved by many other public facilities (for health care, transportation, etc.) This is a drawback to living in remote areas.
Maybe there is overlap between USDA “food deserts” and higher education deserts?
Toole County UT for example is a USDA food desert tract. Much of the county is covered by actual desert (the Great Salt Lake Desert). However, there appears to be a community college located within 21 miles of the county seat.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas/
There are over 1000 public community colleges in the USA.
In addition, 4 year universities typically have less selective (or open) extension divisions.