ABSTRACT
Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) have helped students like Betty overcome personal and family problems while attending those institutions. Many tribal college students begin dass es with good intentions and high expectations. Unfortunately, for more than half who enroll, these expectations of completing college and finding a better life are not realized. Students bring with them the baggage of many years of failure-failed marriages and relationships, periods of unemployment and welfare dependency, and, for some, histories of drug and alcohol addiction (Bowker, 1992; Ewen, 1997; O'Brien, 1992). Enrolling in college represents a new beginning, but to succeed, the students need to learn strategies to overcome the failures of the past.
