Student Development
Explore Development Opportunities
Study Skills
No matter what your grades are, everyone needs some guidance to find success in the classroom. Here are some resources to help you develop the best study habits and skills you’ll need to get your degree:
What are Office Hours? – by Andrew Ishak
Time Management: TCU Video Project Series
Focus 2 Self-Assessment
Many people struggle with choosing an academic major during school, or job industry after graduation, but choosing a path is important when choosing your classes, internships and other career opportunities.
Focus 2 combines self-assessment, career and major exploration, decision-making and planning in one place. By matching your assessment results to career options and majors/programs for your consideration, FOCUS 2 guides you through a career and education decision-making model to help you make informed career decisions and take action in planning your future.
To use this free service, register to create an account with the access code collegefund. From there, you can take each test- personality, interests, values, and skills- to build your academic and career planning profile. Print your profile to share with an academic or career counselor or mentor to discuss your career plan or transition to a new profession.
Money Management
It is also important to understand budgeting, credit, and debt management – to help you to make responsible decisions in school, and prepare for your financial life after school. Learn about the following topics in related posts — your financial future depends on it.
- Money Management — Developing Common Cents (College Fund)
- Per Cap (First Nations Development Institute)
- Financial Skills for Families (First Nations Development Institute)
- Developing Your Vision: Managing Your Money
- Your First Bank Account
- Childcare Costs (and Ways to Reduce Them)
- When Your Child Has Special Needs
- Caring For Aging Parents
- Children and Family Considerations
Student Ambassador Program
The American Indian College Fund Ambassador Program was established in 2015 to strengthen students’ and alumni personal and professional skills and to represent the College Fund.
Our Blogs
Northwest Indian College Visit
This week the tribal college tour continued to Northwest Indian College. We recruited former College Fund Media Manager Phillip Hillaire (Lummi) to serve as a liaison to his Native community. Of the tribal colleges, Northwest Indian College (NWIC) is very well known for pioneering distance learning programs.
Coaching and Investing in Our Students’ Futures
Most of us who have achieved a measure of success in our lives had someone special who believed in us—a family member, teacher, coach, or other caring individual who provided encouragement at a critical time. I was raised by my grandmother from the time I was five months old. We were very poor, often living on less than $50 per month. At times we went without real food for weeks, subsisting solely on coffee and homemade bread.
Salish Kootenai College Visit
We arrived in Missoula, Montana on Sunday May 9 on this leg of our video project. It is Mother’s Day and we headed north to Polson to set up our base camp for the next three nights on the southwest side of Flathead Lake. We were only 80 miles away but took longer than expected through the rain and stopping to take the time to capture the picturesque landscape going along roads lined with Salish and Kootenai-translated street signs leading to the reservation.
Fund President Richard B. Williams Writes Intro for Short Stories by Natives
Readers of all backgrounds will enjoy the dark tales imagined by a collection of Native writers in Indian Country Noir. Just published by Ashkashic books, the anthology includes works of fiction by Native writers Mistina Bates, Jean Rae Baxter, Lawrence Block, Joseph Bruchac, David Cole, Reed Farrel Coleman, O’Neil De Noux, A.A. Hedge Coke, Gerard Houarner, Liz Martínez, R. Narvaez, Kimberly Roppolo, Leonard Schonberg, and Melissa Yi. Richard B. Williams, President and CEO, was asked to write the introduction for the collection.
Embrey Family Foundation Establishes $1 Million Four-Year Women’s Leadership Program
The Dallas, Texas-based Embrey Family Foundation has awarded the American Indian College Fund a $1 million grant over a four-year period for a Native women’s leadership program.
The program will include funds to provide 20 scholarships and leadership training for American Indian women pursuing their bachelor’s degrees.
Sara Lee Foundation Sponsors the American Indian College Fund
The Sara Lee Foundation is proud to continue the Sara Lee Foundation Tribal College Scholarship Program for Women through a partnership with the American Indian College Fund (the Fund). This scholarship program will continue to provide financial assistance to American Indian women attending tribal colleges located in Michigan and Wisconsin.

