Community colleges serve as access points to bachelor's degree attainment for a growing number of students, particularly those who live in rural areas. Although increasing the number of people trained in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields remains a national need, and a bachelor's degree in these fields offers a higher entry-level salary than other majors, many rural transfer students who aspire to this goal do not graduate. Factors related to geography, academic momentum, and pre-transfer institutions have been found to impact degree completion when focusing on transfer students, STEM students, or rural students separately. This study contributes to policy, practice, and literature by exploring the impacts of these factors on rural transfer students who are also studying STEM fields. Grounded in geography of opportunity theory, and relying on restricted-access, student level data, this study uses increasingly robust linear models to predict the degree to which residence in an economically distressed rural (EDR) county is associated with STEM momentum upon entry at a four-year institution, and degree completion in a STEM major. The study also examines whether attendance at a rural-serving community college moderates any of these associations. Results indicate that when considering all types of STEM majors, transfer students from EDR counties are as likely to graduate with STEM degrees as their non-rural peers. However, these results are sensitive to the type of STEM major, because most EDR transfer students in this study enrolled in an agricultural or life science field. EDR students specifically in engineering and physical science majors are significantly less likely to complete their bachelor's degree. No significant differences in the probability of attaining STEM momentum were observed, suggesting that once transfer students enroll at a university in a STEM field, those from EDR counties are as likely to take nine hours of STEM courses in the first year as non-EDR residents. Implications of these findings to policy, practice, theory, and research are discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]