The biggest obstacle facing indigenous students completing college degrees is cost, according to a collaborative study by the National Native Scholarships Providers.

Cheryl Crazy Bull - president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund - said students frequently take on debt to pay for post-secondary education, which comes at a high cost to tribal communities.

Jobs that pay enough for graduates to repay their loans and support their families are in short supply in Indian Country.

"And if students have to take on considerable debt in order to afford to go to college," said Crazy Bull, "then they often are unable to return to their tribal communities to give back, which we know they want to do."

The report recommends continued investment by governments and the private sector in scholarship organizations such as the College Fund, tuition support, and supportive partnerships.

Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota now offer tuition-waiver programs to Native American students from any state.

Six out of seven occupations identified by the Wyoming Department of Employment as those most in demand require some form of post-secondary education.

Crazy Bull said getting more high schools to encourage students to fill out the federal Financial Aid Form, which is required by many colleges before releasing need-based scholarships and grants, also can help more indigenous students tap resources.

"Many of our students still are first-generation students," said Crazy Bull. "So they don't have any experience with college, so they don't know how to go about accessing resources for college."

Just 36% of indigenous students enrolled in four-year colleges in 2014 completed degrees in six years, compared with a 60 percent graduation rate for all other students.

Lifetime earnings are much higher for people with college degrees, and Crazy Bull pointed to one study that found that indigenous graduates also score better on multiple quality-of-life indicators.

"Their well-being characteristics were excellent," said Crazy Bull. "So I think not only is it about earnings and a career pathway, but it's also about a better quality of life generally."

A federal judge in Nevada has dealt three tribal nations a legal setback in their efforts to stop what could be the construction of the country's largest lithium mine. They claim it will destroy habitat for wildlife species and parts of Native American culture.

Judge Miranda Du granted the tribes the ability to amend their complaint against the Bureau of Land Management, which they claim fast-tracked the project to meet growing demand for lithium.

The Department of the Interior is hosting its 2023 White House Tribal Nations summit in Washington this week, focusing on "strengthening nation-to-nation relationships" and "protecting tribal homelands in an era of climate change."

Jimmy John Thompson, a member of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, feels Nevada is being overrun by clean-energy projects, and argued that tribal communities will be left behind.

"And some of it is even being funded by the federal government," Thompson said. "None of that funding is going to the tribes, and we also feel like we are going to be the ones facing the biggest impact there. An entire state is just being overrun by folks from Canada and South America, looking at lithium mines and everything else, including nuclear."

President Joe Biden has contended his administration has made what he calls "record investments for tribal nations," but also has acknowledged there is more to do. Biden considers the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act "game changers" for Native communities across the country, especially in the fight against climate change.

Bryan Newland, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at the Interior Department, said about 80% of the world's biodiversity in stewarded by Indigenous people. During this week's panel discussion, he highlighted the benefit and importance of co-stewardship on public lands.

"Many sacred places are found on what are now called public lands, because those lands were taken through various means and they are no longer in tribal ownership on paper," said Newland. "But that doesn't mean there is not a protected interest in protecting those places and accessing those places."

Newland argued that tribal lands will play a "critical role in helping solve climate change." Since taking office, Biden has created five national monuments using the Antiquities Act, including Avi Kwa Ame in the Silver State earlier this year.

California tribes are headed to the White House Tribal Nations Summit tomorrow, where they will ask Congress and the Biden administration to create or expand several national monuments.

The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla tribe in the Coachella Valley would like the president to establish a new Chuckwalla National Monument and expand Joshua Tree National Park.

Thomas Tortez Jr., chairman of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, said the area is an important wildlife corridor.

"The proposed monument would preserve this cultural landscape by providing protections to multiuse trail systems established by our ancestors, sacred sites and objects, traditional cultural places, geoglyphs, petroglyphs, pictographs, plants and wildlife," Tortez outlined.

Since taking office, President Joe Biden has created five national monuments using the Antiquities Act. Congress is also considering legislation to create or enlarge national monuments. The two-day summit draws tribal leaders from across the nation to discuss a range of issues.

Rudy Ortega Jr., president of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, wants Biden to add another 109,000 acres to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.

"In Los Angeles, we're massively overgrown," Ortega contended. "We need to protect these landscapes so that doesn't further continue the construction of houses and businesses and so on, but an area to give green space."

Brandy McDaniels, lead for the Pit River Nation to establish the Sátíttla National Monument, noted it would protect a little more than 200,000 acres in the Medicine Lake Highlands near Mount Shasta.

"Satittla is culturally, historically and scientifically important to the world," McDaniels asserted. "Serving as a buffer to climate change, and provides immense amounts of pure water, natural storage and resources to a large portion of California."

Tribes are also seeking an expansion of the Berryessa Snow National Monument in Lake County.


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November is Native American Heritage Month, and a South Dakota organization is working to help establish leadership skills for Indigenous youth.

Data compiled by the Center for Native American Youth show young people within this population face many obstacles, from high school graduation rates below the national average to being over represented in foster care.

John Richard, youth and family specialist with the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation on the Pine Ridge Reservation, said it underscores how Indigenous youth are still reeling from trauma experienced by past generations, and added their programs focus on providing structure and healing.

"Really, what we want to do is fill in those roles, in how to express yourself in healthy ways, and also being able to have a support system and that kind of structure, where it's going to guide them and flourish into their future lives," he said.

Richard added on the Pine Ridge Reservation, there are few resources for prevention and awareness for behavioral health. Among Thunder Valley's youth outreach programs is an initiative where elementary-age children are connected with high schoolers. Those mentorships emphasize improving self-identify through sports and learning more about the Lakota language.

There's also the WWHY Girl Society program, which prepares girls for life challenges and traditional Lakota womanhood ceremonies.

Lynn Cuny, Thunder Valley's deputy director, adds it serves as a safe space, as Pine Ridge continues to deal with high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives.

"It's overwhelming for us as adults, so imagine being a youth, feeling that and seeing that every day. So, we've even done self-defense classes with our young Girl Society," she said.

Thunder Valley leaders say staffing shortages and transportation barriers sometimes prevent them from expanding certain programs, like a summer leadership academy. However, being able to bring in teens and young adults as mentors has allowed elements of their outreach work to thrive.