"I need an Indian scholarship to go to college?

No, you don’t. Fastweb has 1.5 million entries in its database; fewer than 100 of those are Indian scholarships. Only seven have real money; the rest have scholarship amounts that total less than $20,000 per year.

Some of the Indian scholarships only give two awards a year. That is highly competitive. So you don’t need an Indian scholarship. Most students will only be eligible for two or three of the Indian scholarships. You need to win many more than that to pay for college.

Most Indian students who go on Fastweb do it wrong. They will use three to five keywords, such as American Indian, Native American, education, and minority. But they will overlook many other words they should be using, such as woman, female, special education, elementary education, FBLA, National Honor Society, FFA, and Spanish Club. At least 95% of the students we hear from, if they have done a Fastweb search, have not done a comprehensive one. The minimum number of scholarships students can find these days is 40, and that is as easy as falling off a log.

Counselors should be helping students with this process, but they do very little. There is still an attitude that says Indian students cannot make it in college. Therefore the school people do not encourage them to go to college; in fact, they tell Indian kids they should not go to college. Harvard and Stanford will cost $45,000 a year. But you can pay for it with scholarships, if you do it right. Our motto is: Go to Harvard Medical School, don’t take out any loans, and give your momma money. We actually have people doing that. There is no limit to the number of scholarships a student can earn."

Get the Story:
Dean Chavers: How can I get an Indian scholarship? (The Native American Times 3/29)