A New Attitude
The attitudes and perceptions among American Indians and Alaska Natives regarding receiving a college education have changed and are changing. As tribes embark on the notion of sovereignty, there rests a shared goal to instill the importance of increasing the college graduation rates among American Indian and Alaska Native students. Consequently, there has been an increase in the number of community college students transferring to four-year universities. And as mentioned earlier, there seems to be a shift toward a younger student body, as well as an increased male enrollment. According to an article in Black Issues In Higher Education in 2000, the study, "Creating Role Models for Change: A Survey of Tribal College Graduates," revealed that 91 percent of students who graduated from the nation's 33 tribal-run colleges and universities in 1998 either had secured a job or decided to further their higher education.
Additionally, the development of the American Indian College Fund; the Tribal College Journal; the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium and the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education; and the establishment of cultural learning centers at institutions, were created to raise awareness and help accommodate the cultural values of indigenous students into their academic studies.
As college completion rates among American Indians and Alaska Natives continue to rise, the potential of this often overlooked population is highlighted, as well as the need for ongoing reformation efforts to better understand the diversity of these populations and the challenges they face both maintaining their indigenous culture and embracing that of mainstream America's.  
 
Valerie J. Shirley, Diné, recently received her master's in curriculum and instruction from the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.