We examined whether the odds of experiencing academic, financial, or health-related obstacles during the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly (p < 0.05) different between students attending rural and suburban/urban colleges. We used data from a multi-institutional survey of 31,575 four-year college/university students attending seven rural and 62 suburban/urban colleges/universities in our analyses. Controlling for additional demographic, collegiate, and institutional variables in 19 logistic regressions, the results suggested that the odds of experiencing academic obstacles (e.g., lacking access to instructors), financial obstacles (e.g., losing wages from employment), and health-related obstacles (e.g., hospitalization from COVID-19) during the pandemic were significantly (p < 0.001) higher for rural college students compared to suburban/urban students.