Native graduation rate low

ALEX DeMARBAN

May 29, 2008 at 11:01AM AKST

A University of Alaska Anchorage study hoping to understand why few Alaska Natives graduate found that the university doesn’t do enough to prepare and help students.

A lack of role models, unhelpful advisors and difficult cultural adjustments also partly explain why only 12 percent of the university’s Alaska Native students earn bachelor’s degrees in six years.

That’s slightly better than the 2000 figure — 11 percent — but it’s far short of the university’s graduation rate of 25 percent. The national average is 56 percent.

To determine what worked for some students — and what didn’t — researchers at the university’s Institute of Social and Economic Research reviewed previously published data and interviewed 23 Natives who graduated from the university between 1975 and 2005.

They found that Native attendance is up sharply — rising 40 percent since 2000, from 950 students to nearly 1,400 — and that many more Native students are surviving their first and second years. 

But while the university has taken steps to improve retention, Alaska Natives trying to stay in school face many of the same obstacles they did three decades ago.

Finding out what worked could lead to better graduation rates, said Diane Hirshberg, an ISER researcher.

Natives are underrepresented in several professions, and many miss out on becoming teachers, nurses and doing other skilled jobs in their home communities because they lack a degree, she said. 

“It concerns me that a lot of people say you can make a living without a bachelor’s, because that’s becoming less and less true,” she said.

Cultural hurdles
The alumni interviewed for the study — all first-time college students in their families — earned degrees in a variety of fields. But they shared similar stories, Hirshberg said.

Many said they struggled to fit into the university’s hurried, big-city setting after leaving their village.

Some knew they wouldn’t return to the village because of scarce jobs in rural areas.

They felt troubled knowing they were abandoning their traditions when heading off to college.

A 2005 woman graduate said she grapples with contrasting ideas of success in the Western world — a good education and career — and the Native world — a big family and living off the land. 

“I feel like I’m successful in the Western definition of success but not in my culture’s definition of success and so sometimes I feel inadequate culturally because I’m off being a city girl and getting my education but I’m not trying to provide for my family or have a family or I’m not subsisting as much as I did when I was a kid.”

Some said staying in school was made harder by the lack of Alaska Native role models to draw inspiration from, but that close contact with family and friends helped them stay in school. The alumni surrounded themselves with passionate students and had a never-quit attitude.

“For me, it always came back to, how can I better my life and the life of my kids? School was always at the end of the answer to that question,” a 1997 male graduate said.

Institutional problems
Overall, Natives’ educational status has improved, with 6 percent holding bachelor’s degrees in 2000, the study notes. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a 50 percent jump from 1980.

To make further strides, education from elementary school to high school needs to improve, the study said. Not surprising, considering two-thirds of UA students in general aren’t prepared for college-level math and English. 

Once entering college, many of the Native graduates said they had problems keeping up with the growing cost of tuition. Others found navigating admission, enrollment and financial aid procedures difficult.

UAA advisors and counselors didn’t provide much help. Some didn’t know degree requirements and prerequisites and others were “unfriendly,” alumni said.

One student’s story
Uyuriukaraq Ulran, an assistant researcher at the institute, helped with the study.

A 45-year-old Cup’ik woman originally from Chevak, Ulran earned her two-year associate’s degree from the university this month. She started attending college in Anchorage in the 1980s, and said it was a big change from high school in the Western Alaska village of about 950.

Some college courses had more students than her entire high school. Teaching was a one-way process that was hard to follow. She flunked some classes and needed remedial work.

One biology class was especially hard, Ulran said.

“All my life going to school it was two-way communication during class, and this biology was one way, lectures and that’s it,” she said. “If we missed anything we need to ask for it from other students.”

She retook courses until she passed. And, while she couldn’t attend school some semesters because she had to hold down a job, Ulran continued to build credits. Her parents kept after her, calling regularly from Chevak to urge her to keep trying.

Suggestions for improvement
Ulran said the university needs more Alaska Native professors, and professors need more diversity training that emphasizes the state’s history and culture. 

The alumni in the study also had several suggestions. High schools need to better prepare students. The university needs to reach out to parents and show students how degrees can lead to jobs in their communities.

Other suggestions include:
• UAA’s programs should respond better to the needs of rural students.

• The university should help young people, especially men, find greater role models who have found success in the Native and Western worlds.

• Students should take responsibility by building study skills, setting high goals and surrounding themselves with successful students.

University responds
The university has taken some steps to improve Alaska Native retention rates in recent years, such as offering academic support and other help to Natives in areas such as nursing, engineering and psychology.

UAA is sending more staff to rural areas and provides distance tutoring by computer to help high school students build match and science skills, said Linda Lazzell, a vice chancellor for student affairs.

University officials also recently traveled to high schools in Nome and Sitka to teach incoming college freshman such things as how to register, find financial aid and housing and learn about required courses.

“We’re planning on doing that program across rural Alaska,” she said.

As part of that program, the university held monthly videoconferences to teach high school juniors and seniors about preparing for college.

The steps have helped the university keep more first- and second year Native students, she said.

In 2006, 40 percent of the university’s Native students didn’t survive past the second year. In 2007, that figure fell to 35 percent, the fastest improvement of any student group, she said.

Hopefully, those figures will lead to better Native graduation rates in the future.

“We’re determined (to do better),” she said.

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.