“Scholarship money is out there, but acquiring it is the hard part for a lot of students.” said Brown.

Santa Fe – As most college students know, the process of financial aid can be time consuming and frustrating. Finding and getting enough money to pay for the cost of an education is more of a burden on students than an incentive, due to high demands of time and effort scholarship and grant applications require to be completed.

“Students want to (fill out scholarship applications), but the whole process of writing and the effort turn them off. The process is not complicated, they just need to learn to put effort in,” said Jim Rivera, the Institute of American Indian Art’s placement officer.

According to Scholarships.com, scholarships and grants are forms of financial aid, which assist college students in paying for the cost of their education. Unlike student loans, scholarships and grants do not have to be repaid.

Currently, there is more than $3 billion dollars worth of scholarship information available on the Internet. The number one reason college students drop out is due to financial needs not being met. To many students, a scholarship can be the only retention device that is needed in order to see college students through their degrees.

Scholarships Can Be Found On the Internet, On Campus

There are thousands of databases like Scholarships.com that help students find scholarships and grants that they qualify for. Scholarships and grants can be reserved for students with certain qualifications such as academic achievements, community involvement, merits and financial need. These scholarship databases are free and are widely recommended by both financial aid and placement offices across the U.S.

Currently, 95% of the Institute of American Indian Arts college students receive some type of financial aid be it either scholarships or grants. Nationally, more than 9 million college students receive financial aid in the form of scholarships and/ or grants each year that help fund their education.

Since IAIA is fairly small, the school offers many “in-house” scholarships such as the Merit Scholarship and the IAIA Tuition Scholarship that help supplement the financial needs of its students.

For the average American Indian/ Alaskan Native, trying to fund the cost of an education might seem like an obstacle, but it is a challenge that many students today are facing and overcoming. In 2004, 0.7% of all Bachelor degrees earned were earned by an American Indian/ Alaskan Native. 40% of the degrees earned by American Indians in 2004 were by first generation college students; this represents a significant leap for American Indians.

As IAIA’s Placement Officer, Rivera knows what its like for IAIA students looking for funding. Knowing how much time must be put into the scholarship process; Rivera tries to make life easier for students by searching for scholarships, grants and internships and making applications available to all students that come by his office.

Although most universities do not provide this service, having access to applications seems like it would attract more students to stop by Rivera’s office, but it doesn’t. According to Jim Rivera, only 25% of students take advantage of the services that he makes available to them.

In Rivera’s weekly newsletter, he highlights deadlines for upcoming scholarships, job announcements, and internship opportunities. Currently, there is a large financial need amongst IAIA students. As of this semester, 21 students had to petition to carry over a balance from the previous semester.

This year alone, the U.S. Department of Education will provide more than $78 billion dollars to help millions of students and their families in the U.S to afford the high cost of education. Although the amount of money that the Department of Education puts towards the costs of families in need is high, it will still not be enough for the thousands of college students who take out student loans every year in order to pay off their college tuition and expenses.

“I don’t want students to have less than they deserve,” Rivera said, “The students deserve to have the best of what we (IAIA) have.”

Due to the high financial need of the students at IAIA, the IAIA development office has been fundraising for the Institute’s general scholarship fund that will benefit students. Currently, the fundraising efforts of the development office include alumni phone-a-thons to ask alumni to donate monies and asking full-time staff and faculty to “pledge” money towards the student fund. Each year the American Indian College Fund donates a total of $100,000 dollars toward student scholarships solely for IAIA students.

Although IAIA provides some financial assistance, the majority of students have to find funding to supplement the costs not covered by Pell Grants and tribal scholarships. The majority of students at IAIA depend on scholarships to not only help pay for their tuition but with living expenses as well.

How Scholarships Help Students at IAIA

“My family doesn’t have a lot of money, so instead of asking my family to help me with my costs, I am rewarding them by getting scholarships and doing good in school,” said Kevin Brown, a senior majoring in Museum Studies at IAIA. Brown was recently awarded a scholarship for being the Student of the Year at IAIA. The scholarship he received helped him pay his tuition, photography supplies and personal bills.

“As far as having a family, scholarships help out a lot because it helps with living expenses. I commute back and forth and it (financial aid) helps out with gas and rent,” said Dulbert Yazzie, a junior at IAIA who is majoring in Creative Writing who believes that living in Santa Fe is expensive when having a family.
There are many students at IAIA who have families and/ or personal expenses that are hard to meet, but scholarships help ease the financial burden.

“Scholarship money is out there, but acquiring it is the hard part for a lot of students,” said Brown, “A lot of scholarships are too specific, so students can get discouraged, but I recommend that they apply. It never hurts to try.”

Although one out of four American Indians/ Alaskan Natives live under the poverty level, it should not be a barrier that keeps people from getting an education. Currently, Rivera has 53 deadline and 31 no deadline scholarships in his office that is available to any student who wants applications. He encourages students to “be consistent” in applying for scholarships because it pays off.

Copyright © IAIA CHRONICLE 2006