STUDENTS FIRST:
INCREASING THE GRADUATION RATE

We envision a future where every American Indian student who starts college goes on to finish. That’s how we’ll grow the percentage of American Indians who hold a college degree – currently only 15%, less than half of the national average. Our scholars are moving the numbers and the world one college degree at a time, and we’re right there with them every step of the way.

We embrace and enhance the entirety of learning that goes on during college. We walk alongside and invest in American Indian students through the following efforts.

• Providing scholarships
• Helping students secure additional support (e.g., federal financial aid)
• Assisting students with scholarship and college applications
• Tutoring and mentoring
• Infusing Native traditions into curriculum to support students’ identity building
• Supporting leadership development
• Offering career and employment readiness classes and workshops
• Assisting students with applications and placement for internships and jobs

GIVE THE GIFT OF EDUCATION TO AN AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENT.

STUDENTS AT OUR CORE:
SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES OF LEARNING

We are working to foster an environment that prioritizes and prizes higher education for Native students. When we succeed, we will make higher education among American Indians the norm, rather than the exception, as it is today.

While going to college is becoming more common, learning has always been a part of Native culture. We’re building upon hundreds of years of cultural and tribal traditions around learning to ensure that higher education is a top-of-mind concern in all Native communities. Each of the following efforts is part of establishing and protecting American Indians’ unique path to higher education.

• Emphasizing the value of education for individuals and communities
• Enhancing modern learning environments with Native principles and traditions
• Engaging children, their parents and communities in early childhood education
• Maintaining shared spaces for community events and programs
• Guiding high school students and associate degree earners to further their educations
• Strengthening communities’ infrastructure and technology for education
• Supporting community leaders and faculty at tribally run colleges and universities

HELP SUSTAIN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS.

STUDENTS COUNT:
AMPLIFYING THE NATIVE VOICE IN NATIONAL EDUCATION CONVERSATIONS

We know that in order to include American Indian students in national conversations about higher education, we need to represent each of our scholars. We must make our scholars’ paths to higher education better known. This requires improving the available data about American Indian student success. We track students’ progress in the following ways.

• Fields of study
• Graduation rates
• Majors and degrees pursued
• Participation in leadership development programs
• Representation at community colleges and mainstream, four-year universities
• Representation at minority-serving institutions
• Placement in internships and jobs
• Access to and readiness for employment

HELP SUSTAIN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS