Brief Offers Best Practices to Ensure Success for AIAN Students

The Campaign for College Opportunity has released a brief on the current state of higher education access and completion for American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) students.

Dr. Cheryl Crazy Bull“Ensuring College Access and Success for American Indian/Alaska Native Students” offers a series of best practices and recommendations to ensure AIAN students can attend and succeed in college while being their authentic selves.

The brief, authored by American Indian College Fund President and CEO Dr. Cheryl Crazy Bull, seeks to bring attention to the expertise, assets, and strengths of Americans from all backgrounds, while ensuring that solutions are targeted to support these same students.

It is part of the Campaign for College Opportunity’s “Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion and Empowering Action,” a national initiative that elevates best practices supporting the college preparation, admission, affordability, and success of minoritized students.

The brief is the first of four that highlight practices to support AIAN, Latinx, Black, Asian American, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) students more equitably. Forthcoming briefs focus on Latinx, Black, Asian American, and NHPI students.

The brief provides policy and best-practice recommendations, including: 1.) ensuring good and disaggregated data, 2.) setting goals for supporting AIAN students, 3.) respecting and honoring diverse cultural identities, 4.) supporting success in college, 5.) investing and ensuring financial affordability and stability, and 6.) strengthening recruitment and enrollment of native students.

As such, the brief concludes that addressing these issues can increase restorative and reparative practices that can help Native people reclaim their languages, cultural practices, and traditional knowledge.