To understand why Native American members are hesitant to enroll in higher education, it is necessary to understand this population's barriers to achieving this goal. Degree attainment by American Indians has remained consistently low while other minority groups have consistently risen. The focus of this qualitative single-case study was on determining and understanding what barriers exist, externally and internally, to one reservation tribe in the Great Plains of the United States. Additionally, a secondary focus was on cultural influences impacting students' decisions. Data was collected from eligibility surveys and in-depth personal, semi-structured interviews about participants' decisions not to pursue higher education degrees. Using MAXQDA software to analyze the data, patterns and themes within the participants' answers were identified and barriers were discovered that hindered their matriculation. Finally, themes are discussed, grounded in the body of existing literature. Therein, it was found that within this American Indian population persists a deep cultural and personal distrust in academia due to the historical trauma that occurred with American Indian populations in the United States, yet, ironically, the same distrust is not present regarding the military. Additionally, this population did not perceive a liberal arts education as culturally or socially valuable, deciding instead to seek out certificate and vocational training due to strong cultural ties to serve their tribal community as opposed to seeking individual fulfillment and goal attainment. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]