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
New York Times columnist is “Thinking Indian”
In the Sunday edition of The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman shows how he is “thinking Indian.” He postulates that the economic crisis of 2008 may represent something more fundamental than a recession, and perhaps it was the Earth and the market’s way of telling our world that we cannot continue with the cycle of consumption that was not sustainable.
Want to help a child in Indian Country? Educate his parents.
Consider the facts: the average tribal college student is a 27-year-old single mother of three, and is often the first in her family to attend college. By ensuring that these young mothers attend college, they are assured of greater earning potential, helping them to better support their children and to give them better lives.
Help Tribal Colleges Get Federal Appropriations
In August 2008 former President George W. Bush signed Congress the Higher Education Reauthorization and College Opportunity Act of 2008 into law. The reauthorization will help more students attend tribal colleges across the country and will include funding for tribal colleges across the United States. It also authorizes an annual increase from $6,000 to $8,000 for each student attending a tribal college.
Moving Forward In a Bleak Economy
Despite the bleak economic indicators, including a high jobs loss report at the end of January, there is reason to be optimistic about American Indian education and the Fund. Our supporters are some of the most loyal and devoted people in the country. Even when times are tough, they give something. Our students and the Fund are blessed to be able to count on our corporate, foundation, and individual supporters.
When Old Friends Go On…
I was personally saddened when my friend and former tribal college resident and veteran of the tribal college movement, Sky Houser, passed on on January 29, 2009. Sky died at a hospice facility near his sister’s home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at age 65. At the time of his death, he was the special projects officer for the Scott Bordeaux Leadership Institute at Sinte Gleska University.
Think Indian public service advertisement campaign launches
The Fund is rolling out a new public service announcement campaign titled THINK INDIAN. The campaign tells the story of how America’s 32 accredited tribal colleges and American Indian students are combining traditional Native solutions with modern knowledge to solve contemporary problems.
