Many American Indians who pursue higher educational opportunities choose to attend tribal colleges and universities located on Indian reservations. Today these institutions serve more than 31,000 degree-seeking students. These tribal institutions are fully accredited institutions of higher education. Enrollment of American Indian students at these tribal colleges grew by 32 percent between 1997 and 2002, compared to 16 percent growth in enrollments in higher educational institutions overall within the U.S.
Native culture is a part of the curriculum in the tribal colleges. For example, biology and astronomy courses cover both the Latin and Indian-language names of plants or constellations. Many American Indians also attend a range of state and private institutions of higher education.
Established in 1989, the American Indian College Fund currently provides 5,000 scholarships annually. Ninety-one percent of these scholarships are awarded to non-traditional students, who have dependents, are older than average, work full-time or have a combination of these characteristics.
The American Indian College Fund offers scholarships to each tribal college as well as administering scholarship programs for American Indian students attending tribal colleges and state and private universities.
For this program, the tribal colleges and universities determine student eligibility and award the scholarships. If you are interested in applying for this program, you can apply online at the American Indian College Fund website. The link to the application form is within the paragraph describing the program. Once you have submitted your application online, you will need next to visit with your tribal college financial aid office to discuss your application.
Working with corporate and private donors, the Fund also offers special scholarships to American Indian students attending mainstream universities and tribal colleges and to American Indian students pursuing undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. These scholarships are administered by the Fund and are generally based upon merit or demonstrated financial need. You can apply online at the American Indian College Fund website for these and are only required complete one application to apply for all scholarships for which you are interested.
American Indian College Fund
8333 Greenwood Blvd.
Denver, CO 80221
(800) 776-3863
collegefund.org/scholarships/main.html