Reno, Nev.

Higher education officials have formed a coalition to try to turn around the historically low number of American Indian students who go on to college in Nevada.

“A lot of students from rural areas haven’t been away from the reservation at all, and when they come to larger urban areas and onto a university campus, it’s quite overwhelming,” said Sherry Rupert, executive director of the state Nevada Indian Commission. “So they need that help to make the transition.”

To meet that need, the Northern Nevada American Indian Higher Education Collaborative was formed last fall by the University of Nevada, Reno, Truckee Meadows Community College, Western Nevada College and Great Basin College.

To further the collaborative’s mission, UNR hired Kari Emm last August as the full-time outreach and retention coordinator at its Center for Student Cultural Diversity. Emm, a member of the Yerington Paiute Tribe who was raised on the Walker River Reservation in Schurz, tells American Indian students they can succeed in college but must take the tougher courses that will prepare them. They also must learn what financial resources are available.

“I tell them, You can make this happen. It can happen for you and here’s how you can do it,’” Emm told the Reno Gazette-Journal. Across the state, the percentage of American Indian students attending Nevada colleges and universities has trailed far behind other minorities for the past decade.

From 1996 to 2006, the percent of American Indian/Alaskan students increased by 20 percent compared to 63 percent for Blacks, 138 percent for Hispanics and 148 percent of Asians/Pacific Islanders, according to statistics from the Nevada Higher Education System.

American Indian students represent only 1 percent of the student populations at UNR, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada State College and the College of Southern Nevada. With 4 percent, Great Basin College in Elko has the largest percentage of American Indians students, compared to 3 percent at Carson City-based Western Nevada College and 2 percent at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.