This manuscript analyses affirmative action policies in the educational field, focusing on the access and permanence of indigenous university students in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The general objectives were to discuss the entry and permanence of indigenous students at universities in the state of Rio de Janeiro and to debate the need to open a dialogue with indigenous students in order to democratically define permanence policies that are appropriate to their concrete needs. The methodology of this work involved two fronts: a literature review and interviews with indigenous university students in the state of Rio de Janeiro in order to find out more about their university trajectories, their university experiences and other issues. We found that there is a need to improve the admission process and the conditions for these students to remain in university, implementing and enabling an expansion of public affirmative action policies aimed at including indigenous populations in higher education in the state of Rio de Janeiro.