MSU-Northern awarded $1.9m grant to assist Native American students

"MSU-Northern has the highest percentage rate of Native students of any University in the Montana University system at 12%," said Chancellor Greg Kegel. "We would like to see it grow to 20%."

Montana State University-Northern http://www.msun.edu/future/ was recently notified by the US Department of Education that they have been awarded a $1.9 million grant over five years from the Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTI) program.

The NASNTI program provides grants and other assistance to non-Native institutions that serve Native Americans in order to enable the institutions to improve and expand their capacity to serve Native Americans and low-income individuals.

The funds from this grant will be used to improve retention and increase the American Indian students’ completion rate of a bachelor’s degree.

"MSU-Northern has the highest percentage rate of Native students of any University in the Montana University system at 12%," said Chancellor Greg Kegel. "We would like to see it grow to 20%."

"This grant will enable Northern to recruit and market Northern to the Native American populations in this region the way it should be done," Kegel continued. "It will also help with retention. We lose our native students faster than any other demographic, and this grant will help us address these issues."

"The primary focus is to reach out to experts in the field, including at the regional tribal colleges and national figures," said Randy Bachmeier, grant director. "These experts will help us develop and implement culturally appropriate models and strategies of mentoring, tutoring, teaching, and socially engaging our American Indian students."

The official start date of the grant was October 1st, 2015. During the first year, Northern will hire and train the staff needed to implement the grant and remodel the necessary classrooms on campus in order to implement curriculum that meets Native American’s learning styles.

Montana State University-Northern is the only University in Montana’s history to be awarded a NASNTI grant.

"Northern is very excited about what this grant will allow us to do for our students," said Kegel.

Contact: Jim Potter, Director of University Relations, (406) 265-3727 or [email protected]