Volume 24 Number 1
January 1985

Bobby Wright, Montana State University

This article examines special student services and their impact upon the achievement and retention of American Indian college students. Noting the comparatively low educational attainment of American Indians, the author offers recommendations for advancing current efforts towards equal educational opportunity.

DURING THE LATE 1960s and early 1970s, incited by the fervor of the times and furthered by the Johnson Administration’s "War on Poverty," American Indians joined other minority students who entered colleges in increasing and, for the first time, noticeable numbers. The dramatic growth in the enrollment of Indian students during this period is evidenced by the increase in the numbers of students receiving Bureau of Indian Affairs Scholarship Grants, the primary source of federal aid to Indian students. Between 1965 and 1972, the number of grantees grew from 1,718 to 12,748, a 724 percent increase (American Indian Policy Review Commission, 1976).

While the doors to higher education have indeed opened to American Indians, this apparent progress cannot be accepted uncritically in the absence of other, more recent data. For example, according to a nine-year longitudinal study conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute, only 38.6 percent of American Indians who entered college in 1971 had completed the baccalaureate by 1980. A similar college completion rate of 39 percent was found in a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Further, while the proportion of American Indians entering freshmen increased between 1966 and 1971, the proportion changed very little in the next ten year period to 1980; and while the numbers of American Indian college students have increased, only six percent of all American Indians have completed college, compared to 23 percent of whites and 12 percent of blacks (Astin, 1982, pp. 40-43, 80-81, 175). In Montana, a state with a significantly large Indian population, only 4.2 percent have completed college, compared to 15.7 percent for all races (U.S. Census, 1980). In addition, Montana Indians represent only 2.8 percent of the higher education students in the state, although they make up 4.7 percent of the population, which indicates a severe underrepresentation (Astin, 1982, p. 138; U.S. Census, 1980). Indeed, while advances clearly have been made, higher education for Indians remains a challenge to the reality of equal educational opportunity in America.

This paper will examine programmatic efforts to advance equity in higher education, specifically, special student programs which provide supportive academic and personal services to disadvantaged students. It will focus particularly on program services which address the needs of the American Indian college student.

For several decades, American colleges have been offering special programs for disadvantaged students. In response to the demand for equal educational opportunities for socially, economically, and educationally deprived students, the 1960s witnessed increased federal support for the development of comprehensive support programs for disadvantaged students. These programs provide such services as individual tutoring, guidance, learning centers, remedial basic skills courses, study skills workshops, among others. A synthesis of findings from 60 evaluation studies revealed that special college programs for "high-risk" students had basically positive effects on students (Kulik, Kulik, and Shwalk, 1983). These programs raised student GPAs by .25 to .4 standard deviations and also raised persistence rates from 52 to 60 percent remaining in college. This means that a typical student from a special program might expect an improvement of one letter grade (on a four-point scale) in one course each semester, and that 60 students rather than 52 out of 100 will be able to stay in college—an increase of 15 percent (Kulik, et al., 1983).

American Indian students have particular need of support services which can address their unique academic, social, cultural, and psychological needs. Many programs and services have been developed at colleges and universities in an attempt to meet needs of the Indian student. Below are brief overviews of specific support services, with attention to how they contribute to the successes of the American Indian student.

Astin (1982) reported that "the quality of the student’s academic preparation at the time of college entry proved to have more frequent and stronger relationships to most outcome measures than any other single category of freshman or environmental variable" (pp. 91-92). Yet, a recent survey of minority educators indicated poor educational preparation as an obstacle to minority undergraduate educational attainment, nearly two-thirds citing this factor (Astin, 1982).

For students who lack adequate academic preparation, especially in basic skills, many colleges and universities provide remedial courses for credit in college-preparatory writing and mathematics. Coursework or short-term workshops in study skills are also prevalent. An additional academic service frequently provided is individual or small group tutorial.

These services have been found particularly necessary and useful for American Indian students. Voyich found that "the Indian student appears to enter the university scene with a number of deficiencies," especially verbal and language skills (1974, p. 81). In a survey of educators working with Indian college students, lack of good academic preparation in high school received the highest ranking among obstacles to college completion (Falk and Aitken, 1984, p. 28). A recent study of Minnesota Chippewa college students found that 76 percent reported that they were either somewhat prepared or not at all prepared academically for college level work and further, that 60 percent cited poor academic preparation as a factor which hindered their retention (Falk and Aitken, 1984, pp. 26-27).

With regard to effectiveness of academic support services, according to Astin (1982), the perceived need for remedial help in reading and composition is positively related to persistence among American Indians (p. 93). Falken and Aitken (1984) also suggest that retention of Indian students is positively related to the provision of "special courses/workshops" (p. 28). Unfortunately, however, except for general findings on the positive effects of programs for disadvantaged students (Kulik, et al., 1983), quantitative and controlled data on the relationship of academic or other supportive services to American Indian achievement and persistence is non-existent. This is certainly a topic worthy of further research.

In direct relation to academic support are counseling support services. Colleges and universities frequently provide additional academic and personal services to minority and/or disadvantaged students, which are beyond the purview of the traditional counseling program and which are often staffed by minority counselors.

Although the controversy surrounding the importance of counselor ethnicity to counseling effectiveness continues, Sue (1981) cites several studies which indicate that successful interracial counseling is highly improbable because of the cultural/racial barriers involved. A recent study reported that Indian students indicated a strong preference for Native American counselors and would be more likely to use counseling services for both personal and educational-vocational problem situations if they could be seen by a Native American counselor (Haviland, Horswill, O’Connell, and Dynneson, 1983). Bransford (1982), in his review of the literature, found agreement with the ideal of an Indian counselor, but also found that the ethnicity of the counselor may not be important, provided that the non-Indian counselor is trained to use culturally-appropriate communicative and trustworthy behaviors.

Ethnic studies were born from the campus unrest of the 1960s, when students in general and minority students in particular demanded more relevant curricula. The almost exclusive focus on western culture and the noticeable absence of minority cultures in the traditional liberal arts came under serious attack. As a result of these pressures, ethnic studies were introduced in various forms: within existing departments, as separate departments, or as interdisciplinary programs.

While American Indian studies is often a component of an interdisciplinary ethnic studies or American studies program, several colleges and universities have distinct, autonomous Native American Studies programs or departments, most often where there are large Indian student populations. Several major universities now offer graduate programs as well, among them, the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University at Tempe, and the University of Minnesota.

Falk and Aitken (1984) reported that 69 percent of educators in their survey cited "American Indian Studies Programs" as important or very important to Indian retention (p. 28). Although in agreement with this finding, a prominent Indian educator noted a more far-reaching impact:

Thus, while ethnic studies curricula enhance the academic quality and credibility of the liberal arts, they also offer a positive sense of cultural identity and pride, as well as educational relevance, to Indian students.

Madrazo-Peterson and Rodriquez (1978), in an environmental assessment of minority students, found that social isolation is the factor of greatest concern to most of the students surveyed. In another survey, minority educators frequently cited social isolation and "culture shock" as barriers to educational attainment (Astin, 1982). Low self-concept is another social-psychological problem encountered by minority students, particularly noticeable among Native American students. In the above-mentioned survey of minority educators, American Indian respondents indicated that young people of their racial background are particularly subject to self-concept and identity problems (Astin, 1982).

Heaps and Morrill (1979) found "that one of the major educational and counseling tasks in working with Navajo students, other Indian students, or students from any minority or disadvantaged groups, is that of improving their self-concept or their cultural identities in those areas where a lower self-evaluation or confused identity may occur because of cross-cultural conflicts in values, attitudes, and behaviors (e.g., areas involving cultural identities, social and religious values, etc.)" (pp. 13-14).

To address these problems, American Indian Centers and student organizations have been established on many college campuses. At Montana State University, for example, the Indian Club has been allocated space for a Club Room on campus, which is staffed by a counselor/Club advisor and which serves as a social center, study hall, meeting room, and career/guidance center.

Falk and Aitken (1984) found a significant relationship between years of retention in college and attendance at Indian student organization meetings (p. 28). A national commission in its report Minorities in American Higher Education concluded that "such centers can promote a sense of community, can help students learn about the system, and can foster cultural identity, pride, and strength in such a way that minority students will be able to challenge as well as to enrich and broaden the traditional values of the institution (Astin, 1982, p. 193).

Within the whole spectrum of student needs and responsive support services are contributions made by the presence of minority faculty and professional staff. The minority educators survey (Astin, 1983) asked respondents to indicate what higher education institutions could do to better serve minority students. The most frequently endorsed recommendation was to hire, promote, and tenure minority faculty members, administrators, and counselors. This response reflects the 1976 findings of the National Center for Education Statistics that 92 percent of all full-time faculty were white and that 27 percent of these hold positions below the rank of assistant professor, compared to 44 percent of Black and American Indian educators. The response also reflects the important functions that minority academics can serve: as positive role models, advisors, student advocates, monitors of institutional policies and practices, educators committed to educational excellence and equity, scholars approaching traditional subjects and research questions from new perspectives or laying the intellectual foundations in emerging fields of inquiry, and liaisons with the minority communities (Astin, 1982).

Special programs for disadvantaged students are meeting the serious needs of American Indian college students. In doing so, they represent important institutional efforts at advancing equal educational opportunity in America. Nevertheless, much more needs to be accomplished before the educational attainment of American Indians speaks of equity. In light of the foregoing, the following recommendations are offered, efforts which encourage the strengthening of current efforts:

American Indian Policy Review Commission, Task Force Five: Indian Education. Final Report to the American Indian Policy Review Commission. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.

Astin, Alexander W. Minorities in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1982.

Bell, T. H. Goals and Performance Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education for Fiscal Year 1984. Unpublished manuscript, 1983.

Bransford, Jim. To be or not to be: Counseling with American Indian clients. Journal of American Indian Education, 1982, 21, 18-20.

Falk, Dennis R. and Larry P. Aitken. Promoting retention among American Indian college students. Journal of American Indian Education, 1984, 23, 24-31.

Havighurst, Robert J. Indian education: Accomplishments of the last decade. Phi Delta Kappan, 1981, 62, 329-331.

Haviland, Mark G., Richard K. Horswill, John L. O’Connell, and Verla V. Dynneson. Native American college students’ preference for counselor race and sex and the likelihood of their use of a counseling center. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1983, 30, 267-270.

Heaps, Richard A. and Stanley G. Morrill. Comparing the self-concepts of Navajo and white high school students. Journal of American Indian Education, 1979, 18, 12-14.

Kulik, Chen-Lin C., James A. Kulik, and Barbara J. Shwalk. College programs for high-risk and disadvantaged students: A mere-analysis of findings. Review of Educational Research, 1983, 53, 397-414.

Madrazo-Peterson, Rita and Mario Rodriquez. Minority students’ perceptions of a university environment. Journal of College Student Personnel, 1978, 19, 259-263.

Sue, Derald W. Counseling the Culturally Different: Theory and Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1981.

United States Census, 1980.

Voyich, Daniel Louis. A study of selected characteristics of successful and unsuccessful American Indian students enrolled at Montana State University from September, 1967 to June, 1972. Unpublished dissertation, 1974.

Wright, Bobby. Survey of bilingual vocational instructor training students, November, 1983, Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Education, Montana State University. Unpublished report, 1983.

Bobby Wright is Coordinator of the Bilingual Vocational Instructor Training Program at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Formerly Director of the Rocky Boy Tribal High School and Assistant Professor and Counselor with the Native American Studies Program at the College of Great Falls.