Higher Education in American Indian Communities
Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado
Fort Lewis College Tuition Waivers
Fort Lewis College is one of just two colleges in the United States whose home state has an agreement with the federal government to provide tuition waivers to Native American tribe members. (The other is the University of Minnesota – Morris.) The federal mandate is part of a 1911 deal the state of Colorado made with the United States government for a large plot of land in the southwest part of the state. In exchange for the land, the state had to agree to use the buildings there as an institution of learning and to admit Native American students for free. This eventually became the first site of Fort Lewis College. (Durango Herald)
Since that time, Fort Lewis College has held up their end of the deal. They currently enroll more Native American students than almost any other non-tribal four-year college, and American Indian students make up a full 25% of the school’s 4,000 student student body. The national average is just 1-2% of the student body of most four-year colleges. (Pewewardy and Frye, 33)
Misconceptions and Marginalization
One of the biggest misconceptions that American Indians face is the idea that all American Indians are eligible to receive free college education. Many non-Native Americans believe that all people of American Indian descent can choose just about any school to attend and that attendance will be cost free. This is simply not true. Not only are there strict guidelines regarding who can qualify for education benefits, those benefits, like any other scholarships or financial aid, are also limited in their scope and breadth.(Partnership with Native Americans)
In addition to this misconception, American Indian students, particularly those of mixed heritage can face scorn and accusation of faking their heritage in order to get the incorrectly assumed free education. Sometimes these accusations come from other American Indian students. (Pewewardy and Frye, 40) This, of course, also works the other way, with non-American Indian students claiming ancestry in order to gain access to scholarships or other opportunities for actual American Indian students.
American Indian students often feel marginalized even on diverse campuses that work to celebrate that diversity. Amongst the various race and nationality focused student groups, American Indian groups can get lost do to their generally smaller size. This can make it difficult for them to carve out a place and have their voices heard within the larger campus community.
This feeling of marginalization is exacerbated in classes that discuss American history with a Eurocentric focus. When attending predominantly white universities American Indian students can feel as though their own cultural knowledge and personal life experience is being discredited or is seen as politically charged. (Pewewardy and Frye, 32)
Tribal Colleges and Universities
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), sometimes called tribally controlled colleges, are post-secondary schools “chartered by their respective tribal governments, including the ten tribes within the largest reservations in the United States.” (aihec.org) TCUs were founded as a response to the fact that while federal and state programs to provide access and financial assistance to traditional American universities are helpful, American Indian students often have different needs, focuses, and styles of learning.
There are currently 32 fully accredited TCUs in the United States. Most are community colleges offering associate’s degrees, but there are a few that offer bachelor’s degrees and even master’s. The majority of these colleges are located on or near reservations and in other remote areas throughout the Midwest and western United States. These schools offer a unique opportunity for students to receive indigenous centered education that often better respects their culture, their lifestyle, and the specific challenges that come from being a rural American Indian in the United States. They offer a multitude of services, such as laptop lending, housing for community college students, child care, and even remedial education that would be difficult to provide at larger non-indigenous focused schools. They also provide the opportunity for students to feel a vital part of their school’s community rather than just a student interest group.
The very first tribal college was Navajo Community College, chartered by the Navajo Nation in 1968 in Tsaile, Arizona. It later changed its name to Diné College, to better reflect its role as a school for the Diné/Navajo people.
Barriers to Success in Higher Education
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 1.1% of enrolled college and university students in 2006 were of American Indian/Alaska Native descent. (nces.ed.gov) This despite the fact that that same year approximately 1.5% (or 4.5 million) of the United States population was American Indian. (U.S. Census Bureau) In addition, the National Congress of American Indians reports that "Only five percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives have received graduate or professional degrees, compared to 10 percent for the total population, and only nine percent of American Indians have earned bachelor's degrees compared to 19 percent for the US population." (ncai.org)
One of the biggest barriers to higher education for Native youth is cost – even when free tuition is available – but there are other obstacles besides finances that keep many potential college students from attending or completing their degrees. The factors can vary but the issues that keep students from or increase the likelihood of graduating range from family and social support, to peer mentoring programs, institutional commitment, and students abilities to maintain an active presence in their home communities and cultural celebrations. (Guillory, 13)
Many Native American students attending a four-year university are leaving a reservation for the first time in their lives. This may be the first time they live in a place with running water or their own beds. While this might sound like the dream situation, and well-deserved after all of the hard work put in to achieve the opportunity of a college education, it can be extremely overwhelming and isolating. Particularly for students in schools with small Native student communities where they are less likely to encounter others going through the same culture shock.
While enrollment and graduation rates of American Indian students has vastly improved over the last thirty years, "there remains a significant problem with rates of persistence to graduation within 6 years at approximately 36% compared to the general population at 56%." (Guillory, 12) Hopefully, as both traditional and tribal schools continue to put in the effort and outreach to American Indian students that they have recently begun to examine and implement, graduation rates will soar.
Sources
Guillory, R., American Indian/Alaska Native College Student Retention Strategies, Journal of Developmental Education, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Winter 2009)
Pewewardy, C. and Frey, B., American Indian Students' Perceptions of Racial Climate, Multicultural Support Services, and Ethnic Fraud at a Predominantly White University, Journal of American Indian Education, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2004)
Cowan, E., A Historic Promise, Denver Herald, June 2, 2012, https://durangoherald.com/articles/1821 accessed April 20, 2018
American Indian Higher Education Consortium, http://aihec.org accessed April 20, 2018
National Center for Education Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov accessed April 20, 2018
Bentley, A., You Wanted to Know: Do Indians have a free ride to college?, Partnership with Native Americans, http://blog.nativepartnership.org/you-wanted-to-know-do-indians-have-a-free-ride-to-college/ accessed April 20, 2018
Facts for Features: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2015, U.S. Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2015/cb15-ff22.html accessed April 20, 2018
National Congress of American Indians, http://ncai.org/about-tribes/demographics accessed April 20, 2018
Image Sources
Image 1 - "Fort Lewis College Campus" Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lewis_College retreived March 14, 2018
Image 2 - "Studying-RD3-NSO2017" https://www.skc.edu/2017-skc-fall-new-student-orientation/ retreived April 20, 2018
Image 3 - "TCUmap" http://www.aihec.org/who-we-serve/TCUmap.cfm retreived April 20, 2018
Image 4 - "Diné College - Tsaile Campus" http://www.dinecollege.edu/locations/tsaile.php retreived April 20, 2018