Scholarships for Native Americans

Being able to afford college or university is difficult for the majority of people but for minority groups, it’s even more difficult. Native Americans are one of the least represented groups in college enrollment — they make up approximately 1% of all undergraduates in the U.S. The problem isn’t that Native American students don’t want to earn degrees, it’s that their access is hindered by several factors. One of these is the high cost of earning a degree. Even with the help of federal aid, many students still cannot afford to complete their degree programs which leads to fewer degree-holding Native Americans. To help address this imbalance, many government and independent organizations have established scholarships specifically for Native Americans so that they too can attend college and earn a degree. By having more certified and qualified Native American professionals, diversity and representation in professional spaces can be improved.

Native Americans from the U.S. are often referred to as American Indians and you will notice that some scholarships use this terminology while others use Native American or Native North American. We’ve used Native American for our own tags but followed individual scholarship terminology in their content. If you’re a Native Hawaiian student, there’s a separate page for scholarships for Native Hawaiians, but feel free to browse these scholarships for Native Americans — you may be eligible for some of them.