“I’ll Be Right Behind You”: Native American Families, Land Debt, and College Affordability

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

Native student persistence depends on family connections, yet research has largely excluded Indigenous families’ voices. Using an Indigenous-specific framework of educational debt and land debt, the study centers Native families’ perspectives during students’ transition to predominantly White institutions. Results show Indigenous families experience fear and frustration about college affordability and financial aid processes, while still making extreme sacrifices to pay for college. The discussion situates these struggles within economic conditions shaped by Indigenous land theft, arguing institutions must account for owed benefits when supporting Native students, families, and communities.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Background and Problem

Indigenous land, colonial colleges, and exclusion

College Affordability and Financial Aid Context

Tuition increases and state disinvestment

The “free college” misconception

Findings and Implications

Families’ experiences of fear, frustration, and sacrifice

Land debt framework and policy repayment argument

AERA Open January-December 2021, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1–13 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584211025522 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2021. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) “I’ll Be Right Behind You”: Native American Families, Land Debt, and College Affordability Amanda R. Tachine Arizona State University Nolan L. Cabrera University of Arizona Family connections are critical for Native student persistence, yet families’ voices are absent in research. Using an Indigenous-specific version of educational debt, land debt, we center familial perspectives by exploring the financial struggles among Native families as their students transition to a Predominately White Institution. Findings indicate that Indigenous families experienced fear and frustration surrounding college affordability and the financial aid process. Regardless, these Native families made extreme sacrifices in paying for college. These findings were contextualized within the economic conditions created by land theft from Indigenous peoples. Returning to land debt, we argue that institutions need to begin from a perspective of what is owed to Native peoples in their policy decisions. That is, such decisions should take account of the benefits historically accrued by institutions residing on forcibly taken Indigenous land, and then examine how that debt can be repaid by supporting Native students, families, and communities. Keywords: educational debt, Native American college students, family experiences, college affordability, Indigenous methodology, sharing circles All U. S. universities reside on Indigenous 1 land. That is the work of settler colonialism, the ever-present structure to occupy and maintain control of Indigenous land (Trask, 1993; Wolfe, 1999) . Many take for granted the fact that Indigenous lands and bodies were stolen, not acknowledging how we contemporarily benefit from those Indigenous sacrifices. Dehumanization in the form of genocide and displacement of Indigenous peoples, as well asthe forced enslavement and labor of Blacks, is the foundation of what is now the United States (la paperson, 2017; Wilder, 2013) . It is also the seedling of colonial colleges and settler universities (Carney, 1999; Lee & Ahtone, 2020; Nash, 2019; Stein, 2020) . This history is intricately woven into the present, yet this modernday reality is concurrently denied. Despite existing on Indigenous land, predominantly White institutions (PWIs) have systematically excluded Native peoples from gaining access (Brayboy et al., 2012) . When Native students gain access, they often struggle to afford attending college (Espinosa et al., 2019; Nelson & Tachine, 2018; Shotton et al., 2013) . Pursuing a college degree is becoming increasingly costly for many students, especially in states where state funding has plummeted (The College Board, 2016) . States across the nation are disinvesting in higher education, and many colleges are subsequently struggling to meet their budgetary needs (Goldrick-Rab, 2016) . Colleges are hence raising tuition to offset cost, and low-to middle-income families are experiencing this financial hit the hardest (Goldrick-Rab, 2016) . For example, in the first 5 years after the 2008 recession, tuition in Arizona universities nearly doubled—the greatest increase in the nation (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2016) . In 2007, Arizona supported 72% of the college costs for an Arizona-resident student. By 2016, the state covered only 34%(Arizona Board of Regents, 2017) . Specific to Native students pursuing higher education, there is a popular sincere fiction (Feagin & O’Brien, 2003) that they largely attend college for free due to the availability of race-specific scholarships and casino money (Bentley, 2012) . It is sincere because many people believe this myth, and it is fictio

FAQs

What is the study’s main focus regarding Native student persistence?

The study centers how Native families’ voices shape persistence, especially during transitions to predominantly White institutions, and how financial struggles affect access and affordability.

How does the article define and use “land debt” in its analysis?

It uses an Indigenous-specific lens combining educational debt and land debt, linking families’ financial distress to economic conditions produced by historical Indigenous land theft.

What do the findings report about Indigenous families and college costs?

Indigenous families report fear and frustration regarding college affordability and the financial aid process, yet they make extreme sacrifices to pay for college.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen