This fall, there was much hand-wringing, data analysis and speculation in the upper ranks about the consequences of the US Supreme Court ruling last summer that ended affirmative action. As predicted, some highly selective higher education institutions reported significantly less racially diverse classes admitted this year after rolling back race-conscious admissions strategies.

These national conversations rarely touch on enrollment trends among Native students — but they should, advocates say, because Native American enrollment rates have been falling steeply for years. And scraps of enrollment data that have begun to trickle out from colleges and universities show that several selective universities saw declines in first-year Native American students this fall.

Amherst CollegeTHE Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University and the University of Virginia saw their already low percentages of first-year Native American students cut in half. Harvard University also saw a small drop, from 1.2 percent last fall at 1 percent this fall. Similarly, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill saw Natives in its first year decrease in registrations from 1.6 percent to 1.1 percent.

“We’re seeing the numbers going down and it’s so discouraging and disheartening,” said Angelique Albert, CEO of the Native Forward Scholars Fund, a major provider of scholarships for Indigenous students.

Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, which provides scholarships and programs to support Native students, was also troubled by the affirmative action decision, though she noted that “a limited number of Native students go effectively at extremely selective studies. institutions.”

A Report 2023 by the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank, found that the types of institutions that attracted the most Native American and other minority students were less likely to use race as an admissions factor than highly selective institutions. Indigenous students mostly attend public four-year universities, community colleges, tribal colleges and universities, and nontribal Native American-serving institutions, a federal designation for institutions with student bodies that are at least 10 percent Native American.

But reports coming out of selective institutions are still troubling for students and their supporters. While the enrollment losses reported so far may seem modest, advocates worry that the Supreme Court’s decision risks exacerbating the already staggering decline in Native American participation in higher education.

Indigenous student enrollment nationally fell by 40% between 2010 and 2021, a loss of tens of thousands of students, according to the data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Only 16% of Native Americans aged 25 to 64 have a bachelor’s degree, a recent report from the Campaign for College Opportunity showed.

“The barriers to college were pretty tough,” Albert said. Even before the court ruling, indigenous students already faced tough challenges to pursue higher education. Research from Albert’s organization and others shows that financial barriers are the No. 1 obstacle to Native American students getting to and transitioning to college. A Survey 2022 of 5,321 Native students who received scholarships from Native Forward and other Indigenous scholarship providers, found that 65 percent had annual incomes below $35,000.

“There are Native students who deserve to go to college, who want to go to college, who are ready to go to college,” she said. These students “are people who just need access … and once they have access, they go on to do amazing things.”

Applying to college has already been a challenge this year for many Native American students. Because they disproportionately need financial aid to afford higher education, many have had to struggle their way through faulty launch of the new free application for federal student aid. First year enrollment above all dropped sharply this yearand lagging FAFSA completion rates seem partly to blame.

Meanwhile, state bills aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion efforts strip some colleges of resources and support that attract Native students and encourage them to stay enrolled. Some universities have campus cultural centers closedwhile others they dissolved the DEI offices or modified scholarships to escape race-based eligibility requirements (against the protests of some donors).

“Many of our scholars are first-generation students going to college … one primary thing they need is support services,” Albert said. So the loss of cultural centers and other targeted supports “significantly affects our students’ ability to succeed.”

Crazy Bull also worries that campuses feel less welcoming to Native students. “Whether or not Native students benefit from affirmative action — we don’t really know that they do — we know that campus climate, campus culture and a welcoming educational environment influence their participation,” she said.

Derrick Platero, Doctor of Navajo. student studying soil science and hydrology at Iowa State University, said he was saddened by the Supreme Court’s decision and also of Iowa’s recent anti-DEI bill as one of the university’s few native students. Native Americans make up just 0.1 percent of Iowa State’s graduate and undergraduate students, according to the data university data.

Platero said Indigenous students like him, with small Native communities on campus, already felt isolated. “I worry about the impact this will have on Native students and other underrepresented groups who rely on these safe spaces for support and community,” Platero said. “I feel that safe places are slowly disappearing and I fear that this will make college life more challenging for students of color.”

What colleges can do

The Supreme Court ruling invalidated, or at least called into question, the tools that colleges and universities have historically used to ensure diversity among their incoming students.

Admissions officials may feel their hands are tied when it comes to enrolling more Indigenous students, but Albert said that’s not the case. “There are so many things that these universities can do to attract and increase Native enrollment,” she said.

She advocates a “build it and they will come” approach, saying Native American students will continue to be drawn to colleges and universities known to offer resources and a sense of community through robust Native representation among faculty and administrators. Indigenous student groups, cultural events and other aid including scholarships.

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, higher education institutions have reduced scholarships based on race, but those offered to Native American students are not actually based on race, Albert noted — a distinction sometimes lost on higher education officials trying to comply . with the affirmative action ban.

“We have a unique political affiliation — we are sovereign nations within a nation,” so these scholarships are offered to students as “citizens of nations,” not as members of a particular race or ethnicity, she said. “So we work with universities to help them understand the historical context.”

Keri Risic, executive director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus, said her university immediately aligned its admissions practices with the Supreme Court decision, but its ongoing recruitment strategies for Native high school students Americans are still allowed and it pays off. . The university’s percentage of first-year Native American students has increased over the past five years; this year’s class has 116 indigenous students, compared to 95 last year.

Admissions officers at UMTC maintain relationships with Native American high school counselors, visit high schools, and make presentations to students about community involvement opportunities for Native American students on campus. The university has a support office for Indigenous students called the Indigenous Nations Circle. The state also last year launched the American Indian Scholars Program, a free college program that pays all tuition and fees, before financial aid or any other grants are applied, for members of federally recognized tribes at public universities in Minnesota.

The goal of these outreach efforts is to “help Native students explore the campus community and learn about campus resources and campus community-building opportunities” as early as ninth or 10th grade, Risic said.

The university application also includes a question about how students might benefit from – or contribute to – the university’s diverse community, Minnesota Star Tribune noted, an approach that other universities have used to promote diversity without running afoul of the Supreme Court decision. (The application also includes an optional question that gives applicants the opportunity to share their race or ethnicity, not with admissions officials, but with other university staff, in order to be connected to specific resources or community activities.)

Crazy Bull said one of the ways her organization is addressing the ruling is by helping high school students find ways to talk about their Native identities and experiences in their applications.

Under the ruling, students can’t check a box, but they can “tell their story,” she said. “Their stories are often rooted in economic experiences that … would reveal their tribal experience.”

Platero, a student at Iowa State, said he hopes colleges and universities can continue to find ways to “support students from all backgrounds by fostering environments where everyone feels included.”

“Speaking for myself and other people who are native, it’s hard for us to leave home because we love our parents and our homeland so much,” he said. “But when we have the opportunity to go into higher education, it’s like a big milestone for us… I feel like students are going to miss out on this educational opportunity, and it’s very sad to see.”