McLean visits local tribal colleges during tour

The promise and challenges facing Stone Child College were at the heart of the discussion Tuesday morning when former Lt. Gov, Angela McLean came to the tribal college on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation Tuesday morning.

It was McLean's first visit to Stone Child since she stepped down as lieutenant governor earlier this year to become director of American Indian and Minority Achievement and K-12 Partnerships with the Montana's office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

Accompanied by John E. Cech, deputy commissioner of Academic and Student Affairs, McLean is traversing the state, visiting Montana's seven tribal colleges,

McLean and Cech were scheduled to visit Aaniiih Nakoda College on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation later Tuesday.

The purpose of the tour is to strengthen relationships between the state and tribal colleges within the Montana University System.

During their two-and-a-half-hour visit, McLean and Cech spoke with Stone Child College President Nate St. Pierre about recruitment and retention of Native students and how to make the transition from a tribal to a four-year college more affordable and less daunting.

McLean described tribal colleges as a valuable "on ramp" for students who attend to earn a certificate or two-year degree and perhaps go on to a four-year institution.

She said Native and first-generation non-Native students frequently go to college, but far too often end up leaving and coming home with some credits, but without their degree.

"And at the end of the day we think the best way to get there is through building and strengthening these partnerships," McLean said.

Challenges

St. Pierre said a former colleague of his once referred to tribal colleges as "under-funded miracles."

St. Pierre said often these institutions are tasked with providing an education to students who will help meet the needs and foster opportunity on campus but are often underfunded in meeting this objective.

The college receives its base funding under a tribal college act from 1978. Under that legislation tribal colleges are supposed to receive funding at the level of $8,000 per student, St. Pierre said. However, funding has never actually reached that level, and he said that just recently funding has been increased to about $6,700 per student.

He said this is in contrast to other colleges that serve minority student populations.

Though he did not cite the exact sources, he said that Howard University, a prestigious college that caters to African-Americans, receives about $30,000 per student.

He said tribal colleges want equity in funding, so they can better maintain and improve on what they offer students.

"We try to find ways to keep our doors open like everybody else," he said.

St. Pierre said Stone Child receives money from its status as a 1994 land grant college. The college also relies heavily on grants.

The services the college provides are dependent on the money it has.

He said the top reason Indians don't complete college is the lack of financial assistance.

High unemployment is another difficulty that the college must contend with.

"And if a lot of our graduates and people who go to school here, if they are not wanting to go elsewhere to find or accept a job and stay here, well you might have a degree in business, but you might be working as a janitor at the school," St Pierre said.

Dual enrollment/retention

Stone Child is working to make it easier for students to complete their degrees and certificate programs, or give high school seniors an early start at college.

St. Pierre said they have have a dual enrollment program with Rocky Boy High School, where students can take a few courses while simultaneously attending high school.

As of right now, he said they do not have an agreement with Box Elder schools for college readiness.

"It worked out pretty good for most of them," St. Pierre said of the Rocky Boy students who have taken part in the program.

However, he said, they don't have as much interest this semester and that the program has been changed around. They now instead offer an eight-week session those students take.

Another move Stone Child has taken to boost enrollment and encourage people to return or complete college is waiving tuition and fees for summer courses.

St. Pierre said such an arrangement is meant to encourage those to return or remain at the college who are either having trouble when it came to access to student aid or who were on academic suspension or probation with low GPAs seeking to boost their grades.

St. Pierre said it was still not clear the effect it had on the most recent eight-week session. However, last summer it did boost numbers. He could not say how much. Over the summer, 100 students were taking courses.

He said the college had some off-reservation students take advantage of the opportunity, both Native and non-Native.

St. Pierre said that while such a move may end up costing Stone Child money, it also costs them money when students leave and don't finish pursuing a degree or completing a certificate program.

"You have to study and look at where does it break even. What is the break-even point on that," he said

Stone Child has also sought to meet the needs of students who lack transportation, St Pierre said they recently bought two new 14-passenger vans that can transport students to and from campus.

They also have a child care center on campus for people who have children whose care could present obstacles to completing their studies.

They also have a community library that has children's books and computers with internet access.

"It's part of that whole dynamic of making this a real focal point of the community."