Boosting Native Retention

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Summer 2009

The University of Maine at Presque Isle enrolls 65 Native American students - the highest percentage in the UMaine System. Early this year, UMPI was awarded up to $750,000 over the next four years from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to develop and improve culturally responsive retention strategies that help Native American students transition from the Native community to the university community.

The grant was made through Project Compass, in which the foundation funds campuses to help narrow the achievement gaps for low-income students, students of color and students who are first in their family to attend college. The Presque Isle grant specifically calls for creating a Native American Center staffed with a retention team; review of academic affairs and curriculum to offer more effective support to marginalized students; and reconfiguration of the roles of student support and advising.