The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) was established in 1972 to represent the interests of the newly developed tribal colleges, which are controlled and operated by American Indian nations. The four founders were Gerald One Feather of the Oglala Sioux Community College, David Reisling of D-Q University, Pat Locke of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), and Helen Schierbeck of the United States Office of Education (USOE). They organized the initial meeting and brought together all who wanted to form such a national organization.. One of the most significant achievements of AIHEC was to work with the United States Congress to authorize in 1994 land-grant status to 29 tribal colleges, achieved in October 1994 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act.
Northwest Indian College is a public tribal land-grant community college in Bellingham, Washington. It was established by the Lummi Nation and is the only accredited tribal college or university serving reservation communities of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Iḷisaġvik College is a public tribal land-grant community college in Utqiaġvik, Alaska. Operated by the North Slope Borough, a home rule government of the Iñupiat, it is the only tribally controlled college in Alaska, and it is the northernmost accredited community college in the United States. The college is located within the boundaries of the North Slope. It is an 89,000-square-mile (230,000 km2) region of Arctic tundra. It is connected to the 414-mile (666 km) Dalton Highway only during the winter, by an ice road for local residents. The community can also be reached by plane.
Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College is a public tribal land-grant community college in New Town, North Dakota. It is chartered by the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation headquarters at New Town. The college has branches in Mandaree and White Shield.
Sitting Bull College (SBC) is a public tribal land-grant college in Fort Yates, North Dakota. It was founded in 1973 by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in south-central North Dakota. The SBC campuses are located in Fort Yates, North Dakota and McLaughlin, South Dakota. It serves as the primary educational institution on the Standing Rock Reservation.
United Tribes Technical College (UTCC) is a private tribal land-grant community college in Bismarck, North Dakota. In 2012, UTTC had an enrollment 885 students, 635 full-time undergraduates, and 250 part-time undergraduates.
Bay Mills Community College (BMCC) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Brimley, Michigan. It is chartered by the federally recognized Bay Mills Indian Community of Michigan with a total enrollment of approximately 500 on-campus and online students. The students come primarily from Michigan's eastern Upper Peninsula and are 60% Native American. BMCC is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), a community of tribally and federally chartered institutions working to strengthen tribal nations, and a land-grant college.
Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC) is a Public tribal land-grant community college of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate on the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota. It was established in 1979 and serves the Dakota people. SWC has an average enrollment of about 250 students, of whom more than 80% are tribal members. It has both vocational and academic programs, and arrangements with four-year colleges so that students can transfer for continued studies.
Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC) is a public tribal land-grant community college with three locations in Nebraska: Macy on the Omaha Tribe reservation, Santee on the Santee Sioux reservation, and the urban South Sioux City.
The Fort Peck Indian Reservation is located near Fort Peck, Montana, in the northeast part of the state. It is the home of several federally recognized bands of Assiniboine, Nakota, Lakota, and Dakota peoples of Native Americans.
Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Cass Lake, Minnesota. It was established in 1990 and designated a land-grant college in 1994. The college includes approximately 70 faculty, staff, administrators, and 250 students. Most students come from the Leech Lake and Red Lake Reservations, and approximately 8% of the student population consists of non-Indian students.
Chief Dull Knife College is a public tribal land-grant community college on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. It is an open-admission college with about 141 students. On average, more than half of its graduates move on to four-year colleges.
Sinte Gleska University (SGU) is a public tribal land-grant university in Mission, South Dakota, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. It is a Brulé Lakota Indian Reservation home to the Sicangu. SGU has an enrollment of 828 full and part-time students. It is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Blackfeet Community College is a private tribal land-grant community college on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, Montana. The Blackfeet reservation occupies an area of 1,525,712 acres adjacent to Glacier National Park, Lewis and Clark National Forest, and the province of Alberta, Canada. In 1994, the college was designated a land-grant college alongside 31 other tribal colleges.
Aaniiih Nakoda College is a public tribal land-grant community college on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Harlem, Montana. The institution incorporates native culture into the curriculum and promotes cultural identity; however, the school is open to both tribal and non-tribal members. Aaniiih Nakoda College is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), which is a community of tribally and federally chartered institutions working to strengthen tribal nations and make a lasting difference in the lives of American Indians and Alaska Natives. ANC was created in response to the higher education needs of American Indians. ANC generally serves geographically isolated populations that have no other means accessing education beyond the high school level.
Stone Child College (SCC) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Box Elder, Montana. SCC is affiliated with the Chippewa-Cree Tribe and located on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation in north central Montana; it is one of seven Tribal Colleges in Montana. In 2008–09, SCC had an enrollment of 511, of whom 98 percent were American Indian descent; 20 percent were bilingual or of limited English proficiency. SCC students range in age from 17 to 72, with the average age at 30. The college retention rate is 47 percent and the graduation rate is 20 percent.
Tohono Oʼodham Community College (TOCC) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Sells, Arizona. TOCC's student body is 88 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native. Tohono Oʼodham Community College serves approximately 216 students. The college's faculty and staff is 57 percent American Indian, half of whom are Oʼodham.
Navajo Technical University (NTU) is a public tribal land-grant university in Crownpoint, New Mexico, with sites in the towns of Chinle, Arizona and Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. NTU is the largest tribal college in the country and is a 1994 land grant university. It has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 2005 and is home to the first accredited veterinary technician program on an Indian reservation.
Oglala Lakota College (OLC) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Kyle, South Dakota. It enrolls 1,456 students enrolled part- and full-time. OLC serves the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which has a population of about 26,000 and covers 3,468 square miles in southwestern South Dakota.
Robert V. Dumont Jr. (1940–1997) was a Native American educational leader who lived in and worked in Chicago, Illinois and at the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, most notably as one of the designers of the Native American Educational Services College and its initial director of academic programs.
