Recently we were asked about the factors that make for a top college for Native Americans students. It is a great question and it really depends on individual student needs and goals; however, that does not make for a great blog. So I will answer this with a top ten list of things that Native American students should consider when choosing a college.
American Indian students have the lowest college graduation rate in the country, at just over 13%. In a new publication from the American Indian College Fund, several tribal colleges and universities share how to create systems and structures to promote Native student success.
I have relied heavily on scholarships to pay for my schooling and thanks to the American Indian College Fund I was able to attend the University of Montana and acquire my Bachelor’s degree without student loans. I now know what it takes to pursue and acquire a post-secondary education and this has given me motivation to go for my Masters of Public Health from the University of Montana
Internships, like scholarships, are an important piece of a student’s higher education process. Internships provide students with opportunities to improve their skills and confidence while allowing them to build relationships in their professional fields. Unfortunately, not all students have the opportunity to work as an intern.
Malcolm Macleod, President of the Johnson Scholarship Foundation, writes in the blog Giving Matters that the foundation stands with the American Indian College Fund to make scholarships a tool for social justice in achieving equity for Native peoples, mainly for education.
I was inspired to see Hilary Pennington’s article, “Rethinking scholarships as social justice” in the Ford Foundation’s Equals Change blog. Her article examines the approach in action through the implementation of the Ford Foundation’s International Fellowships Program, which spans 22 countries and a decade to support emerging leaders who face discrimination because of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, economic status, or physical ability. Her essay opens the door to discussing and examining further why scholarships are particularly important to indigenous people as tools of social justice and opportunity.
We salute all of our graduates who are embarking on new chapters in their lives with a college degree. Len Necefer, a College Fund alumnus, is just one of many recent graduates. The new Dr. Necefer successfully defended his dissertation, is an expert on energy policy, and now has a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy.
The Coca Cola Foundation and the American Indian College Fund honored 36 American Indian scholarship recipients at its 2015-16 Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship banquet at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Marcella has not had an easy life. She was primarily raised in the boarding school of Rough Rock, Arizona, and says relationships, consistency, and stability were not guarantees during her upbringing. With help from a sister’s open door, Marcella is now settled into an enriching life in Crownpoint, New Mexico, where she and her husband live near a wide collection of family members.
Katie, a Minnesota Chippewa student at Bay Mills Community College in Michigan, and Keri, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe studying at Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota, are both American Indian College Fund scholars who had the opportunity to network and learn more about educational and career opportunities through a partnership with the College Fund and the Wal-Mart Foundation.
