The Role of Academic Student Services in the Retention of American Indian Students at a Sub-Baccalaureate Technical College

Abstract

Perceptions of graduating American Indian students at a mainstream sub-baccalaureate technical college about how support from academic student services had helped them learn and persist in their studies were solicited. Bean’s (2005) themes of college student retention served as the framework for the inquiry. Findings indicate that (1) academic student services contribute to institutional fit and the development of key attitudes in students, and (2) academic student services are seen as a service to students, meaning that students want help to be easy to find and always available and employees to function less as university employees and more as their advocates in navigating university bureaucracy and program requirements.