Re: American Indian College Fund

Judith M Gobert (jgobert@selway.umt.edu)
Thu, 10 Mar 1994 12:20:51 -0700

The American Indian College Fund is a very worthy and worthwhile
organization to support. It is intimately tied to the 30 (or more)
tribally controlled colleges. I have seen the tremendous "boost" these
colleges have provided to their communities. Most of these colleges
operate on a "shoestring" budget, yet, they serve their students in
an "Indian" way, nobody goes hungry. The very reason they are stretched
so thin, monetarily, is that they try to do so much for the people they
serve, their respective tribal communities. The American Indian College
Fund is the logical next step in serving the Indian community at large by
soliciting and providing for scholarships for any Indian student with
need and decent grades. By way of contrast, tribal education funds or BIA
scholarship funding can and is sometimes dependent on who you know,
who you're related to, who's on the council, if you're living on the
"rez" or off, how long you've been off the "rez", what kind of resources
your tribe has, how much $$$ the legislature budgeted that year, which BIA
area serves you, and sometimes what areas/degrees are "priority".

I am an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana. I was attending
school at Seminole Jr. College in Seminole, OK. When I asked the BIA
education specialist for funding for my final semester for my associate
degree, he told me that I lived off the reservation and was not eligible
for funding. I worked full-time and finished my Associate's in Medical
Laboratory Technology without any tribal funding. I then attended one year
at Salish Kootenai College on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. From
the day I hit campus, they did everything they could to ensure I
succeeded and treated me with the respect and courtesy inherent in our
tribal cultures. I did well, and was honored to receive several unsolicited
scholarships and AIHEC's College Student of the Year award. When I
transferred to the "BIG" (in my mind) University of Montana, the people
at SKC tried to help to make the transition process smoother.
I am now completing my PhD in Microbiology at the University of Montana.
I know I would not have succeeded without the confidence and self-esteem
building environment provided at SKC.

There are still a lot of problems out there in Indian education, but, the
tribal colleges, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC),
and the American Indian College Fund are all Indian people working for
Indian people. I can't see much wrong with determining your own future
by providing educational opportunities for your children that are not
totally depependent on governmental largess.

Judy Gobert