Mark Trahant: Tribal colleges effective and essential

Monday, April 23, 2007  

"I bring this up because we live in a country that needs a smart, prepared, youthful labor force and the greatest potential for that comes from African American, Latino, Asian American and American Indian communities because these population groups are younger. It's no longer enough to improve education opportunities for young people from these communities because it's fair or the right thing to do. We need to step up investments because it's in our national interest.

I was thinking of this context when I read the testimony from a U.S. Senate hearing earlier this month, looking at the role of tribal colleges and universities. Instead of matching the nation's resources with the need for a younger work force, the federal government is instead spending dollars based on last year's budget and old ideas.

"We are the most poorly funded institutions of higher education in the country," testified David Gipp, president of the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, N.D. "And apart from the U.S. military academies and Howard and Gallaudet Universities, we are the only institutions of higher education whose basic operating budgets are funded -- by legislative mandate -- by the federal government."

Dollar for dollar these colleges are effective reaching people who only 40 years ago did not have access to local higher education.

Gipp told the Senate that tribes are offering strong support and in many cases modest financial support. "Our tribes are not the handful of small and wealthy gaming tribes located near urban areas; rather, they are some of the poorest governments in the nation. Only a handful of tribal colleges currently receive any revenue from tribal gaming," he said.

There is probably opportunity to grow the support from tribal sources -- but there also ought to be a better investment from the state and federal governments because these colleges are a cost-effective answer to the demographic challenges faced by all Americans."

Get the Story:
Invest in the future -- higher education (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 4/22)

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