The benefits to higher education are worth pursuing despite the significant barriers presented by affordability and other, more hidden costs. These are some of the conclusions gleaned from the first-ever National Study on College Affordability for Indigenous Students.
The study was conducted in collaboration with the nation’s four Native scholarship providers: the American Indian College Fund,
the Cobell Scholarship, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Native Forward Scholars Fund.
The mixed-methods design used quantitative data (including surveys of more than 2,700 former and current scholarship recipients) and qualitative data (including sharing circles and individual interviews). The study represented 172 Tribal Nations.
The study’s authors note that the research represents, “likely the largest mixed-methods data set ever collected on Indigenous student perceptions and experiences of college affordability.” There’s value to the data, the authors continue,
because, “these data help us to confirm anecdotal experiences, offer new insights into Indigenous college student finances, elicits new questions for future research, and most importantly creates space for Indigenous student voices to be heard on
a research topic where their data are frequently missing.”
Only 36.2% of Indigenous students attending four-year institutions in 2014 completed their academic degree within six years, compared to 60.1% of all other students. Research has
found the primary obstacle to college completion is affordability, but until this research, the impact of college affordability on Indigenous students’ college completion had yet to be explored.
The report is divided into subject-matter
sections such as demographic/background data, Tribal affiliations, personal finances, financial aid, FAFSA completion, and student debt. The affordability analysis also included variables such as food security, caretaking responsibilities, cultural
experience, availability of off-campus housing, being the main provider of a family’s income, and more.
Some key takeaways about students lived experiences related to affordability included:
44% of current students and 51% of former students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “I did not fully understand the actual costs of attending college.”
37% of participants agreed with the statement: “Compared with other alumni at my institution, I feel like I am in a worse financial situation.”
72% of current participants reported running out of money at least once in the last six months.
16% of all participants have experienced homelessness during higher education.
67% of current students are expected to contribute to family bills.
Top unanticipated costs for students included healthcare, transportation/car maintenance/parking, technology (e.g., laptops and wifi), fees, food, housing, and books. Some of these are included in an institution’s cost of attendance, but others represent
the hidden costs of going to college that trip up so many students, Native students among them.
The brief closes with practice and policy recommendations for higher education institutions, financial aid offices, secondary and pre-college
education institutions, land-grant colleges, and universities, Native-American serving non-tribal college and universities and national Non-Native scholarship providers. Some of these policies include improving transparency in cost of attendance,
offering emergency aid, increasing financial literacy among students, and more.
The National Native Scholarship Providers identified the next steps for research on college affordability, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,
student loans, the impact of external scholarship, and more.
Despite the headwinds for postsecondary attainment, the study closes in its discussion with an important qualitative insight.
“One of the more apparent costs that
surfaced focused on the cost of time. For Indigenous students, time can often be an expense that is not easily afforded. Due to family, cultural, community, and in some cases ceremonial ties, time is a precious commodity. Upon entering college, students
are often aware of the basic time commitments, but the burden and stress of reallocating that time from other priorities is carried not only by the student, but by their family and their community. Hidden expenses are very real costs associated with
attending a post-secondary institution and although some may view these costs as part of the college-going experience, others experience them as barriers to future access and opportunity.”
Read more about the study and the takeaways in
the executive summary.
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