How We Handle This Moment Matters

Our Purpose

We have one unwavering purpose – increasing the number of American Indians who hold college degrees. Currently, only 15% of American Indians have a college degree – less than half the national average. Every year, we empower more than 4,000 American Indian students to start and stay in school, complete their degrees and launch careers that benefit us all. We have provided 159,652 scholarships and $283.7 million to support American Indian communities. We intend to double our impact in the next five years.

Join us and help a student today.

Invest in a Student

How Your Donations Are Used

73%Scholarships, Programs, and Public Education4%Management and General23%Fundraising

About Us

We are the nation’s largest and highest-rated American Indian nonprofit organization changing the face of higher education today – one American Indian at a time. We provide more scholarships to American Indians than anyone else, and we’re the only organization that enhances this individualized financial support by funding accredited, tribally controlled colleges and universities and contributing to programs that ensure student success — starting before the first day of preschool and continuing beyond a student’s first day of their first career job.

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Our Areas of Impact

As an independent organization, we provide direct and focused solutions to one of our nation’s most pressing problems – educating all of our American Indian youth for success in life. With your donation, we will provide more scholarships, amplify our programs, and help more American Indian students succeed.

STUDENTS FIRST: Increasing the graduation rate

STUDENTS AT OUR CORE:
Supporting communities of learning

STUDENTS COUNT:
Amplifying the Native voice in national education conversations

STUDENTS FIRST: Increasing the graduation rate

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

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

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

A Conversation With Our Students

Get to know some of the students whose lives you are changing.

tori meet the students nahm

JERALD

Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe

College Fund scholar Chance

CHANCE

Navajo Nation

College Fund scholar Trey

TREY

Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska

College Fund scholar Jamie

JAMIE

Muscogee (Creek) Nation

College Fund scholar Samantha

SAMANTHA

Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah

Partners Make Us Stronger

Students and communities alike benefit from the rich relationships we have with our corporate partners. Not only do these partnerships provide much needed financial support, they may also include internship opportunities, mentoring, student convenings and more.

We are grateful to our partners for amplifying Native voices and supporting the dreams of Native scholars.

CLICK TO SEE MORE  ➙

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Our Commitment to You

The College Fund is committed to accountability.
We consistently receive top ratings from independent charity evaluators.

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