| Abstract: | Tribal colleges are attracting, retaining, and educating a new population of Native students. These 24 institutions are characterized by their location on reservations, governance by local boards, dedicated faculty and administrators, intercollegiate cooperation and collaboration, frugal management of material resources, and the central role of Native spiritual and cultural values. Local control has been a basic premise of the tribal college movement, and has shaped individual colleges to meet the needs and preferences of their communities. Facing similar problems, founders of the first tribal colleges formed the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). AIHEC provides networks for faculty, administrators, and students, and has addressed itself to legislative advocacy, fundraising, faculty and staff development, and sharing of resources. Nontraditional students are the norm, and students are predominantly female, older, residentially isolated, and poor, with a high school equivalency diploma and family responsibilities. Successful student recruitment and retention are related to the accessibility and accountability of these institutions to their communities, simultaneous enrollment of family members, good teacher-student relationships, financial aid, student support services, and good institutional social climate. Curriculum, educational philosophy, teaching styles, and teaching methods vary between colleges, reflecting community needs and values. Successful educational outcomes include graduates having high employment rates, continuing on to higher degrees, and getting off federal assistance and welfare, as well as community economic development outcomes. However, federal funding is inadequate and shrinking. Increasing federal and state aid and private and corporate support are recommended. (SV) |
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