Getting Native American students on the reservation to and through college, however, remains a great challenge, especially when most enter OLC financially strapped and reading at a 10th grade level. Before embarking on college-level work, Shortbull says, 60 percent of OLC freshmen must enroll in remedial reading and writing courses and 60 to 70 percent in remedial math. But in August, the successes and innovative strategies that have come with offering 40 years of higher education to Lakota people landed OLC on a national list of 32 postsecondary institutions that show promise in increasing completion for underrepresented students.
