Generating Strategies for Success: Understanding the Lived Experiences of Native American Adult Learners

Abstract Native Americans are the least likely minority to enroll in public 4-year US institutions and the least likely to graduate from those institutions. Furthermore, being an adult learner, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender, presents a unique set of challenges, as adults are often the most time-limited group of the college population. Thus, the confluence of being both a Native American and an adult learner at the university are not yet fully understood. The findings of a qualitative study undertaken by the author which investigated the lived experience of nine Native American adult students, are discussed in this chapter. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight and explicate the tensions, challenges, and barriers that these students faced on their pathway to success in higher education.