Volume 33 Number 1
October 1993

Donald S. Tate and Charles L. Schwartz

Professional programs in higher education such as Nursing, Teacher Education, Social Work, Law, and Medicine, have placed priority on educating American Indian students for entrance into their respective programs. Social Work education in particular has placed a high priority on training diverse populations for entrance into the profession. However, the American Indian population has had a lower graduation rate than other ethnic groups from Social Work programs, and also, they have the smallest numbers of any ethnic group attending Baccalaureate Social Work (BSW) programs. American Indians represented approximately 0.8% of the total number of baccalaureate social work graduates in 1989 according to Council On Social Work Education program statistics (Spaulding, 1990). In contrast, graduation rates for African American students were 14.3%, and the rates for Chicano and Puerto Rican students was 4.9%. (Graduate figures not available from the Council On Social Work Education).

Program statistics also show that American Indians have the lowest completion rates of all ethnic groups enrolled in BSW programs. The rate of American Indian students enrolled/graduated during this period averaged 33.4% compared to a 41.6 % rate for African Americans, a 40.2% rate for Chicanos, 46.2% for Puerto Ricans, and a 46.8% rate for Whites. Why do American Indian students appear to have a difficult time completing professional programs? Although there are problems associated with retention of American Indian students that are unique to Social Work education, it is likely that retention problems are common across all professional higher education programs.

We hypothesize that problems such as lack of university support in tutorial services, financial aid, and remedial education act as barriers to the retention of American Indian students in professional education programs. In our experiences, American Indian students often do not have adequate high school preparation and may need tutorial and remedial education services. Similarly most require some form of financial aid. American Indian students tend to enroll at an older age than traditional age students, and usually have the added responsibility of family and financial pressures with which to contend, along with adjustment problems engendered by the university and the majority cultures.

Research and supporting literature which deal with these issues for American Indian students is scant or non-existent. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to add to the knowledge base by identifying barriers and usefully categorizing them. The categorization of these main potential barriers to graduation for American Indian Social Work students may provide insights into the alleviation of barriers for American Indian students in other professional programs offered by universities. The authors believe the identification of these barriers is a first step in addressing the problem of retention with this particular ethnic group.

Several reasons are cited in the literature for the reduced numbers of American Indian students in college: the lack of high school graduates; the lack of administrative support from college institutions where the student attends college; faculty misconceptions and stereotyping; poor student relations with the college institution; and the choice of careers based on the potential for monetary gain. These issues will be addressed forthwith.

A lack of American Indian high school graduates is one explanation for the reduced numbers of American Indians in higher education. Studies by Jones and Wong (1975) and Birdsell (1984) document the elevated high school drop out rates among American Indians. They report that American Indians are under-represented among high school graduates due to educational disparity: (i.e., lack of access to resources, lack of comparable educational funding between White and minority youths). Their study (based on 1970 Census Data) concluded that America must work toward equal access to education for ethnic groups. The Birdsell study also noted a trend of high non-completion rates among American Indian high school students. These studies have implications for recruitment of American Indian students into the profession. As long as there are fewer students meeting the entrance requirements of colleges, there will be a reduction in the numbers of American Indian practitioners graduating from social work programs. Subsequent studies have pointed to other factors beside the unavailability of students in accounting for the cause of the problem.

The high dropout rates of American Indian students from higher education may also be exacerbated by other factors identified in the literature. Lack of administrative support, faculty misconception and stereotypes, and defective student relations contributed to the high rate of dropouts in a non-empirical study by Spaights, Dixon, and Nickoli (1985).

According to Spaights et al., the goal of the university is to produce "productive, knowledgeable, middle-class white American citizens" (p. 18). Consequently, higher education administrators make the erroneous assumption that ethnic students "desire an educational experience identical with that desired by white students" (p. 18). This assumption causes administrators to promulgate policies that increase dissatisfaction among ethnic students, thus creating one more barrier to American Indian enrollment.

Faculty misconceptions of ethnic students' abilities also contribute to the difficulties faced by minorities according to Spaights et al. They describe two situations where faculties sincerely believe ethnic students are intellectually inferior to non-ethnic students. For example, in the grading process some professors will give "Cs" no matter how the ethnic student fared in the course. Also, other professors give "As" to all ethnic students in their class fearing they will be called racist by colleagues.

Another difficulty addressed by Spaights et al. is the refusal of some faculty to include course content underscoring the contributions of ethnic peoples to the discipline. This lack of accurate information about the field of study contributes to the fallacy of White superiority in the specific area of intellectual pursuit. With such lack of support, racism and poor faculty understanding of American Indian cultures, the future proves difficult for American Indian students.

Another explanation for reduced numbers of American Indians in social work programs may be due to the perception that social work is a poor paying field. Lee (1984) conducted a study of American Indian high school students and found that regardless of ethnic group or gender, most subjects felt good pay for their work was an important value. The study also documented that male students also preferred work that was "done with the hands." Historically, social work has been undervalued by society–at least in a monetary respect. Current trends in social work salaries may alleviate this perception.

A survey was sent in October 1990 to all Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited undergraduate and masters level social work programs that had American Indian students in attendance during the 1989-1990 school year as reported to the council. Sixty-seven Baccalaureate Social Work (BSW) programs and 45 Masters of Social Work (MSW) programs reported having American Indian students. Each school or program received a packet containing twice the number of surveys as there were American Indian students enrolled during the previous year. A cover letter addressed to the program director was included encouraging them to distribute the survey to their self identified American Indian students. The letter also included protocol for distribution and return of the surveys. Students were instructed to place the completed survey in the return envelope provided. No identifying information was solicited from the students in the survey or the return envelope to insure confidentiality.

The population of American Indian students contains 184 junior and senior level BSW students, and 127 MSW students (N=311). This number is based on current year's data contained in CSWE program statistics (Spaulding, 1991). Returned surveys numbered 84: representing 27% of the total population. As the sampling method was an available sample, representativeness of the sample needed to be ascertained.

According to CSWE statistics, 23% (46) males and 77% (158) females were in attendance as of 11/1/89 in BSW programs nationwide. Our sample contained 24.2% (8) males and 75.8% (25) female BSW students (see Table 1). In terms of gender we believe our sample was representative of the undergraduate American Indian student population.

On the graduate level, the CSWE publication Statistics on Social Work Education in the United States by Spaulding (1990, 1991) fails to include statistics on the gender of ethnic populations enrolled in accredited programs. Consequently, comparison of the sample to the CSWE program statistics was not possible. Our sample contained 31.4% (16) male graduate students and 68.6% (35) female graduate students. When compared to total MSW program gender percentages of 18.8% male and 81.1 % female, it appears that more male American Indians go on to graduate programs than do their White and fellow ethnic counterparts.

Table 1

Gender of Surveyed American Indian Students by Program Type

Our sample mean ages were 31.54 for BSW and 37.19 for MSW students. CSWE statistics report 45.5% of MSW students over the age of 31 (Spaulding, 1991). Comparing statistics, it appears our sample of American Indian graduate students are much older than the current MSW student. This indicates that the "typical" American Indian student attends a graduate program at a much older age than do non-American Indian students, thus enrolling as a "non-traditional" student. The implications of this finding will be discussed later. With the above limitations in mind, the authors believe the sample population is representative of the American Indian social work student population.

The survey consisted of two sections. The first part included demographic questions about the respondent's age, gender, university, undergraduate major, program type (BSW, MSW), program major in high school, a question regarding academic preparation in high school, financial aid sources, and a question regarding who influenced the student to be a social worker.

The second part of the survey contained 40 items pertaining to college academic preparation, cultural bias of faculty both inside and outside the social work program, personal needs of American Indian students, cultural isolation, access to housing, family support and obligations, and questions pertaining to social work courses. Questions were selected for inclusion in the survey by reviewing current literature as to the barriers for both American Indian and non-American Indian minorities. Five-point Likert type scales were used with 1 representing strong agreement and 5 representing strong disagreement with the statement. Because items were newly generated, the structure of possible factors explaining variance among the 40 items, was not known. This issue, then, became the thrust of the research.

The returned surveys were coded then analyzed using the SAS (1985) main frame computer statistical package. Means were obtained for the item responses, and, a factor analysis was used to reduce the 40 items to useful factors which may represent barriers to American Indian students in obtaining their social work degrees.

When analyzing the means and standard deviations of the question responses (see Table 2), it appears there is a high degree of variability in the responses. Items pertaining to cultural difficulties show mixed responses with a number of subjects strongly agreeing and strongly disagreeing to questions regarding feeling pressure to conform and feeling culturally isolated. For example, when asked whether the subjects felt pressures to conform to the majority culture while in college, 22.6% (19) strongly agreed with the statement and 25% (21) strongly disagreed. Likewise, when asked whether the subjects felt culturally isolated, 20.5% (17) strongly agreed with the statement and 34.9% (29) strongly disagreed. For some American Indian students it appears that cultural differences do contribute to barriers to completing a social work program. Alternatively, some students, who may have had a higher degree of acculturation, believed that cultural difficulties played a less important role in terms of being an actual barrier.

Table 2

Scale Items and Item Characteristics

Although disagreement regarding cultural isolation and conformity was evident, demonstration of agreement in positive feelings toward fellow students and faculty was also apparent. When asked whether fellow social work students were biased, only 7.1% (6) strongly agreed while 37.6% (32) strongly disagreed with the statement. When comparing social work and other university faculties' understanding of American Indian culture, overall mean responses indicate a greater understanding by the social work faculty. The results indicate 38.6% (32) of the subjects either strongly agreed or agreed that the faculty of social work understood American Indian culture, compared to only a 13.3% (11) agreement that other university faculty understood the culture. These results, although a credit to social work faculty, still indicate there is a perception that some social work faculty have little or no real understanding of the student's unique culture.

American Indian students generally agree that being a non-traditional student is at times problematic. Fifty-seven students (67.9%) strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that they had numerous family obligations to meet while in college. When asked whether family obligations sometimes interfered with their education, fifty-five students (65.5%) strongly agreed or agreed with the statement. It appears that being a non-traditional student contributes to the barriers faced by the American Indian student.

Faculty support is an area that receives positive ratings by students. However, the survey finds that many students feel social work faculty did not understand their educational needs or family responsibilities. Eighteen students (21.7%) strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement: "the social work faculty understood my educational needs." Also, twenty-six students (32.4%) strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement: "social work faculty understood my family responsibilities." These responses indicate many American Indian students may perceive the faculty as being non-supportive. Measures to increase faculty support will be addressed later.

To determine dimensionality, a factor analysis was conducted including a principle components analysis with a varimax rotation to determine whether the 40 items could be reduced to a more simple structure. The rotated solution is presented in Table 3.

In analyzing the rotated solution, it appears American Indian students face three relatively independent factors which could represent barriers to retention. Factor I reflects a cultural dimension that suggests difficulties in acculturation caused by interaction with university staff, fellow students, and coursework. This factor was characterized by high loadings on items such as: "I felt pressure to conform," and "My fellow students were biased."

The second factor appears to reflect problems associated with being a "nontraditional" student. Highly saturated with this factor were items such as: "I had numerous family obligations while attending the university," "I was supporting a family while in college," and "My family obligations interfered with my education." Included in this factor were questions concerning financial difficulties, day care for children, and discriminatory housing practices.

The third and final factor pertained to faculty support. Items highly saturated with this third factor included: "I always asked the social work faculty for assistance when I needed help," "The social work faculty made special efforts to help me when needed," "The social work faculty understood my educational needs," and "The social work faculty was more helpful than other university professors."

Table 3

Three Factor Varimax (Orthogonal) Solution (N=84)

*Items are listed in the order in which they appear in Table 2.

The three factors of difficulties in acculturation, non-traditional student status, and faculty support accounted for 36.9% of the total variance. The authors consider this amount of variance to be comparable to other studies in the social sciences. However, due to the low number of subjects, these results must be considered preliminary.

The difficulties in retention of American Indian students in social work programs uncovered in this study could be addressed more effectively if the three main areas of potential barriers are acted upon. The difficulties surrounding the cultural differences between the majority culture university setting and the American Indian cultural experience could be improved by the addition of American Indian student support groups. The addition of support groups for the matriculated American Indian student would increase their sense of community and decrease their sense of isolation as they experience university life.

An article by Browne and Evans (1987) echoes this theme. They suggest support could help students apply their unique American Indian linguistic and cognitive styles to academic tasks, clarify students' cultural identities, improve their sense of self-esteem, and finally, help the students deal with cultural conflict.

For example, upon admission to the program, American Indian students might be given the opportunity to participate in structured group experiences led by American Indian faculty and students. These groups could provide didactic presentations on university survival skills, and draw upon the experiences of group leaders. Topics for discussion could center on developing social support and coping with cultural isolation. Other topics could include self-esteem issues, and social action techniques to increase American Indian presence on campus.

Cultural awareness experiences for non-American Indian students also could be beneficial. This could increase non-American Indian student understanding of American Indian culture and possibly reduce prejudice and bias. The inclusion of activities for both American Indian and non-American Indian students could be helpful in addressing the cultural difficulties expressed by students in our survey.

The difficulties experienced by the non-traditional student is the second barrier to retention addressed by our survey. Typically, the older student has numerous family and financial pressures causing many to work full time. Providing on-campus day care, evening and weekend classes, and teaching and research assistantships that pay a livable wage above the poverty line, could help alleviate some structural barriers that American Indian non-traditional students encounter.

The importance of faculty support of American Indian students was also addressed in our study. Support of student education by faculty has most recently appeared in the literature under the phraseology of faculty mentoring (Kram, 1985). The mentoring process matches students with faculty to provide not only advising, but emotional support. A mentor also provides a role model for the student–thus helping them acculturate into the profession. The use of mentors in higher education is quite promising. A recent study by York, Henley, and Gamble (1988) found mentors to have a positive influence on female graduate social work students.

Unfortunately, university faculties have numerous time constraints in fulfilling job expectations of teaching, community service, research and student advisement. Therefore, faculty time for mentoring may only be possible for a few high-risk categories of students in social work programs where faculty-student ratios are high. Administrators may want to include mentoring activities in faculty job descriptions and evaluation procedures.

Peer mentoring may be a partial solution to faculty time constraints. This type of program provides incoming first year students with upper-class peer mentors to assist the student with the transition to college. Peer counseling has proved effective in many settings (Lawson, 1989; Lewis, 1986; Locke & Zimmerman, 1987). The tandem use of both faculty and peer mentors may provide the added support that American Indian students need to be successful in their program.

Special attention needs to be paid to the barriers with which American Indian social work students are confronted. Implementing suggestions contained in our study may help ameliorate some of these barriers; thus increasing the retention rates.

Future study of the barriers of culture, non-traditional student status, and social work faculty support could entail outcome studies of implemented programs intended to address the unique problems of American Indian students. One could use as an outcome measure, pre- and post-test scores obtained on the cultural difficulties factor developed by this study to document benefits of retention efforts. Scores on the perceptions of faculty support also could be tracked in this manner. The need is for longitudinal studies that measure the effect of implemented programs on the long-term retention rate of students. The ultimate goal would be to improve the overall retention rate of American Indian students.

Although our research did not compare American Indian students with those of other ethnic status, such programs as suggested may have benefits for all students. It is American Indian students, however, who appear to have the greatest difficulty with retention; programs should be designed with their unique cultural differences in mind.