USA Funds-Sponsored Report Focuses on Higher-Education Access for American Indians
A new report shows that enhancing access to education for American Indians could reduce social-welfare costs and bring improvements to the overall quality of life for American Indians and their communities.
To address these issues and the potential benefits of higher education for American Indians and the communities in which they live, USA Funds® underwrote the report The Path of Many Journeys: The Benefits of Higher Education for Native People and Communities.
The report, released by the Institute for Higher Education Policy in collaboration with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and the American Indian College Fund, finds that low levels of educational attainment by American Indians cause significant losses for the individual and society. Yet despite the clear benefits of postsecondary education, many American Indians still cannot afford to go to college or to attend the college of their choice.
“USA Funds is pleased to underwrite this report in recognition of the need to enhance access to postsecondary education for American-Indian students,” says Henry Fernandez, USA Funds executive director of scholarships, outreach and philanthropy. “It is our hope that this report will bring to light the educational issues facing American Indians and provide solutions for tackling these issues.”
The report shows that traditional forms of Western higher education often have been unsuccessful with American-Indian populations, due to the differences in Western and American-Indian traditions, approaches and measures of success.
The report notes that, to successfully serve American-Indian students, higher education must recognize the unique challenges and constraints facing American-Indian students that include:
- American Indians, especially those on reservations, are among the nation’s poorest populations. In 1999, 26 percent of the American-Indian/Alaska-Native population lived below the official poverty level, compared with 12 percent of the total population.
- A range of social problems — including injuries, violence, depression, substance abuse and inadequate health care — accompany poverty.
- In 2004 almost 28 percent of American Indians age 25 and over had not graduated from high school, compared with the national average of 15 percent.
Because of these situations, students may need support such as access to child-care services, flexibility in scheduling classes, and access to transportation to complete a degree.
The Path of Many Journeys outlines recommendations and emphasizes that every part of the educational system — from governments and universities and elementary and high schools, to community and philanthropic organizations — can play a role. The following are among those recommendations:
- Increase funding for federal programs that are relevant to the health, environmental, economic-development and other issues that affect American-Indian students on their path to higher education.
- Support formula-funded institutional-development programs such as Title III, which help higher-education institutions that serve primarily disadvantaged populations.
- Increase funding for early intervention programs.
- Train teachers and staff regarding the cultural differences in instruction, especially in areas that serve many American-Indian students.
- Fund and promote evaluations of program models and best practices that have been successful in supporting American-Indian students on their path toward undergraduate and graduate degrees.
“This report makes a powerful case for the importance of investing in higher education for American Indians,” says Jamie Merisotis, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy. “It’s abundantly clear that we as a nation have an obligation and a collective self-interest in assuring that improved educational opportunities for Native Americans aren’t just a promise, but a reality.”
The report is available for download on the USA Funds Web site. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to access the report.