<p>Some schools have a “multi-racial” box to check. Not sure if the Common App does. </p>
<p>You can go to each individual school to find out what its policy on whether those claiming to be NA need to have tribal enrollment or other documentation. Not all schools do. For example, the University of Minnesota - Morris has an American Indian Tuition Waiver program for which you can be eligible by being a descendant of someone with tribal enrollment.</p>
<p>Fortunately, OP has months to decide on this for college apps.
Oops, I was caught by the OSU acronym. When I researched all this, it’s generally some MW, SE and SW schools (especially publics) that may have their own requirement that you need an enrollment number. Try to look into this, as Ucb says. Consider the approach intparent suggests. They won’t throw your app out for lack of id. Consider applying for enrollment, as GMT says. The very details of that process will require you to do some research and documentation, ask some questions- in the process you will learn something about your your heritage and family history and will show this connection/interest. (Even if you don’t later formally apply, you have gained.) The Common App doesn’t have a multi-racial box, but allows you to check as many as you want. .</p>
<p>If you are 25%, this isn’t about gaming anything. It’s yours, feel free to claim it. Take time to think about it.</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken the general rule on CC about identifying with race tends to be “you can claim to be of race X if you are 25% or more of that race”. So check both boxes; it’s not like you’re defrauding the school or anything. </p>
<p>I would recommend researching each school’s policy carefully before applying, because there’s a good chance at least some of them will absolutely think you’re gaming the system.</p>
<p>By the OP’s own admission, they’ve had no cultural ties whatsoever to the NA tribes or community completely by their own choice. It’s not like they just discovered they have NA heritage. If they were looking to establish ties to the NA community to re-connect with their family heritage I’d say that’s great!! But a school who offers perks (admissions-wise or monetary or both) would, IMO, look pretty skeptically at an applicant in the OP’s situation. If they’re looking to claim NA status all of a sudden because it’s college admissions time, whether it’s rightfully theirs to claim or not, that is pretty much the definition of “gaming the system”. YMMV</p>
<p>There’s no “gaming” here. OP is 1/4 NA genetically, period.</p>
<p>Are people who are 1/4 black genetically required to do “black” cultural things?.</p>
<p>GMT…Not at all. But if it appears to a given university that someone suddenly decides to “embrace” their heritage simply to gain an admissions bump or access to scholarship money, a university would absolutely be within their rights to possibly question that person’s motives.</p>
<p>Since it’s the university’s money/admissions policy, it’s up to them to decide what (if any) additional documentation they would require. Since many of the schools require tribal registration in order to gain the benefits, apparently there is something more than simple genetics required…at least in some cases. Hence why I suggested they check each school individually.</p>