Academic Persistence Among Native American College Students

Abstract

Qualitative interviews with 15 successful Native American college students who grew up on reservations identified the following themes related to their persistence in college: (a) family support, (b) structured social support, (c) faculty/staff warmth, (d) exposure to college and vocations, (e) developing independence and assertiveness, (f) reliance on spiritual resources, (g) dealing with racism, (h) nonlinear path, and (i) paradoxical cultural pressure. The results indicated a need for stable mentoring relationships and programmatic support.

College Student Spirituality at a Hispanic Serving Institution

“…These MSIs have a major impact on minority students (Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005). For instance, most of the literature on American Indian college students at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) frequently mention the importance spirituality and the role they play for these students' and their parents' integration into academic culture (Jackson, Smith, & Hill, 2003;Austin, 2005). Other than these studies and the HERI study, only two other studies to date have looked at the relationship between other college student ethnic groups and their identity and spirituality and/or religion.…”

Career Barriers Among Native American Students Living on Reservations

“…Department of Education, 1998). Native American students who do graduate from college report experiencing considerable difficulties in their postsecondary experience (A. P. Jackson, Smith, & Hill, 2003).…”

Succeeding in School: The Online Reflections of Native American and Other Minority Students

“…College persistence rates of Native American students are also extremely low. In National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I schools, only 33% of Native American college students make it through the 2nd year of college (Jackson, Smith, & Hill, 2003). Only 16% of Native American students in this same study graduated (Jackson & Smith 2001).…”