“Our graduates tell the story of our success as tribal institutions,” says Cheryl Crazy Bull, president of the American Indian College Fund.

Education has been heralded as the “great equalizer,” but today only 14% of Native Americans in the United States ages 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher—less than half of that of other groups. The key to eliminating this disparity may be tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), which are affordable, accredited, culturally relevant higher education institutions chartered by tribes serving Native students on or near Indian reservations. American Indian college graduates who attended TCUs enjoy significant benefits over college students attending other academic institutions, according to a new American Indian College Fund and Gallup survey report titled Alumni of Tribal Colleges and Universities Better Their Communities.

The report shows TCU graduates are creating a unique and community-focused life after graduation, outpacing the efforts of graduates from mainstream academic institutions. One of the central findings is that TCU graduates give back to their communities. Seventy-four percent of TCU graduates surveyed say they have forged careers serving their communities and societies. More than half report a deep interest in careers that serve their communities such as education, healthcare, social services, and more. Perhaps because of the ability to do work that they find meaningful, more than half of TCU graduates report they are deeply interested in the work they do (53%) and half (50%) say they have the opportunity to do work that interests them, compared to 38% and 37% of college graduates nationally.

The survey also found that TCU graduates received greater support in college. TCU graduates (43%) are more than twice as likely as American Indian/Alaska Native graduates of non-TCUs (21%) and college graduates nationally (18%) to recall experiencing three critical support measures in college: having a professor who cared about them as a person, having a professor who made them excited about learning, and having a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams. TCU graduates outpace non-TCU American Indian/Alaska Native graduates in all three measures, with the gap between TCU and non-TCU graduates the widest for having professors who cared about them as people (59% and 33%, respectively).

Another advantage that TCU graduates have is that they are more likely to be debt-free. TCU graduates are more likely to state their education was worth the cost—67% as opposed to 39% of college graduates nationally. Only 3% of TCU graduates took student loans as compared to 19% of students nationally, leaving them debt free as they pursue their preferred careers after graduation. Lack of debt also has a positive impact on college graduates’ financial well-being and that of their families.

Survey results further indicated that TCU graduates are thriving in all aspects of well-being. TCU graduates report nearly twice as much as graduates nationwide that they are thriving financially, socially, and in their communities and careers.

Tribal colleges and universities are geographically and culturally diverse but share common goals such as integrating cultural values and connection to land into curriculum and pedagogy while emphasizing community outreach and education that is rooted in tribal identity and practice. In 2017, over 11% of American Indian students studying at a U.S. two-or four-year public or private not-for-profit postsecondary institution attended one of the 35 accredited TCUs.

“All of us who have worked with tribal colleges and universities since their founding in 1968 recognized that these place-based, culturally rooted institutions transformed lives and communities,” states Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and CEO of the College Fund. “Through the support of Strada Education Network and a partnership with Gallup, we are able to provide the data to back this up. Our graduates tell the story of our success as tribal institutions. More support for tribal colleges and universities would expand this transformative experience to more Native and rural citizens.”

The Alumni of Tribal Colleges and Universities Better Their Communities survey report is the result of a survey of 5,000 American Indian College Fund scholars to gather information about the value of an education rooted in Native American values. The survey was funded by a grant to the American Indian College Fund by the Strada Education Network.