Tribal College Scholarship Timeline
A Tribal College Transfer is a student who is earning an associate’s degree at a tribal college and plans on transferring to a four-year university to earn a bachelor’s degree.
The benefits of attending a tribal college before transferring is:
- Remain close to home and family.
- Tribal colleges’ cultural curriculum strengthens
identity. - Strong sense of community.
- Saving money on the first 2 years of school.
- Academic preparedness.
Year One
Fall
1st Semester
- Apply for Financial Aid (FAFSA)
- Meet with an Advisor and form a 2-yr associate degree course plan
- Research schools where your credits will transfer
- Set a goal graduation date
- Select a major
Spring
2nd Semester
- Apply for a minimum of two scholarships
- Meet with an Advisor to discuss transfer options after your tribal college graduation
- Research application deadlines for transfer schools and mark them in your calendar
- Apply for internships
Summer
- Take the ACT or SAT (if your transfer school requires new test scores for admission)
- Work in a summer internship
- Earn community service hours -looks great on scholarship applications and applications to competitive schools, e.g. Harvard
- Apply for internships
Year Two
Fall
3rd Semester
- Apply for FAFSA
- Create a financial plan for your transfer
- Choose 3 schools to apply to
- Are you on track? Review graduation goal & 2-yr course plan
- Work on transfer admissions essays. Required for competitive schools
Spring
4th Semester
- Complete transfer admissions applications
- Create a financial plan for your transfer
- Apply for a minimum of two scholarships
- Campus visits to your transfer college
- Final decision. Choose your college!
- Apply for internships or seek out community service opportunities
Summer
- Review and accept financial aid package
- Inform schools you won’t be attending
- Attend orientation
- Research resources available for challenges you may encounter
Additional Scholarships
There are thousands of scholarship opportunities in addition to the Full Circle and Tribal College & University (TCU) scholarship programs we offer. We advise all students to apply to as many as they are eligible for. Discover more scholarship opportunities available outside of the American Indian College Fund.
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News & Events
In Memoriam: Carole Falcon-Chandler
The American Indian College Fund was saddened to hear of the passing of Carole Falcon-Chandler, longtime president of Aaniiih Nakoda College (ANC), a tribal college located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana, on April 23, 2024.
Falcon-Chandler served ANC for 28 years: eight as the college’s dean of students and 20 as president. Falcon-Chandler was a strong and accomplished leader. During her tenure as president, she guided the ANC to financial stability and the college remained debt-free. She became an expert on the accreditation process and addressed the recommendations from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. She went on to serve as one of the accrediting board’s commissioners.
Falcon-Chandler helped establish ANC’s American Indian Studies Department and the community’s first immersion school for children, The White Clay Immersion School, which was housed on a tribal college campus. Under her leadership the college also boasts the Ekib Tsah ah Tskik (Sitting High) Cultural Center, the Tataga Kni (Returning Buffalo) Workforce Training Center, Wiyukja Wicoti Technology Center, Maintenance Shop, Carpentry Building, greenhouse, playground, and garden.
She also championed changing the college’s name from Fort Belknap College to Aaniiih Nakoda College in 2011 to better reflect the community the tribal college serves. An historic ceremony centered on educational empowerment highlighted the name change and recognized the tribal nations of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. Falcon Chander also led the way in working to establish ANC’s associate of science in nursing—registered nursing program and its first bachelor’s degree program in Aaniiih Nakoda ecology.
In addition to growing programs for students, she also implemented professional development programs for faculty and staff and grew the college’s American Indian faculty from zero percent when she began as president in 2000 to 75% at the time of her retirement in 2020, and of those, 42% were ANC graduates.
Falcon-Chandler served on the American Indian College Fund Board of Trustees from 2001-2009 and again 2012-2020 and was Chairwomen of the Board in fiscal year 2007-2008. She was named the College Fund’s President of the Year in 2009.
A passionate advocate for tribal colleges and universities, Falcon-Chandler told Montana’s Great Falls Tribune upon her retirement, “Tribal colleges are different. We teach our students in different ways so they can feel a sense of belonging.”
Cheryl Crazy Bull, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, said, “President Falcon Chandler was an icon of the tribally controlled education movement. She believed deeply in the brilliance and strength of Native people and was always full of caring support for her students, community, and colleagues. She was a visionary who fulfilled her commitment to her people through investment in language restoration, the sharing of cultural knowledge, and support of the arts. We pray for her spirit to have a good journey to be with our ancestors and offer our joyful memories of her to her loved ones and community as they send her on her way.”
Making Good on a Promise for the Next Generation
By Arin Davis, LCOOU GED/HSED Coordinator
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University, through support and partnership with organizations such as the American Indian College Fund, provides a comprehensive adult education program at the university. The program is free to anyone and is also available at multiple tribal outreach sites in northern Wisconsin. Roberta Miller, a community member, obtained her high school diploma this year through hard work after enrolling in LCOOU’s high school equivalency diploma (HSED) program pathway. The program is based on competency rather than tests, and allows students to obtain their HSED by completing relevant coursework.
Roberta grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At age 16, she was a young teenage mother needing to care for her first son and dropped out of high school. With little help or support from others, she raised three young boys in Milwaukee. The environment was very difficult, and she was concerned with violence and gang influences in her local community, so in 1999 she moved to the LCO community near Hayward, Wisconsin. Roberta promised herself that someday she would return to school to get her diploma.
Roberta made good on her promise and at age 51, she received her high school diploma through hard work, dedication, and instruction at LCOOU. Her sons are now grown men and she is a proud grandmother.
Roberta’s commitment to obtaining her diploma is just one example of who she is as a role model and support to her children and grandchildren. The photos show Roberta’s beadwork in progress for two of her granddaughters. The first image is a flower pattern for her oldest granddaughter, Zaagi’s medicine bag. The second image is a regalia head band for a granddaughter, Amillie. Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University is proud to support adult learners like Roberta and her family in the community.
Roberta’s Headband Beading in Progress
Roberta’s Medicine Bag Design
Earth Day is Every Day
Indigenous People Live in Relationship with Land
Today, April 22, is the 54th Earth Day since its first celebration, which birthed the modern environmental movement in 1970. It is a day to raise awareness of the damage done to the planet and the need for more sustainable practices in every aspect of life and industry.
For Indigenous peoples, the responsibility to care for the earth and the environments that shaped our cultures is one we have carried for millennia. That commitment to the places that are a part of us persists today in the studies and careers many Native people pursue.
The majority of tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) offer environmental science, natural resource management, or a related program of study. With many of the 448 wilderness areas, totaling 36 million acres, managed by the U.S. Forest Service overlaying the traditional homelands of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, it makes sense for TCUs to offer such classes. These programs of study provide Native scholars with a firm foundation to build careers in everything from renewable energy to sustainable agriculture. But the opportunity to work in these fields has not always been afforded to American Indian peoples, despite their traditional practices often being utilized by external communities, such as setting controlled burns to prevent larger forest fires—or in some cases, being banned by them, contributing to devastating wildfires.
In fact, it was only in 2022 that the National Park Service hired its first Native American director, Charles “Chuck” Sams III. One of his goals has been to integrate Indigenous knowledge into management plans and expand the role of tribal nations in these efforts. During Sam’s first year as director the National Park Service had approximately 80 cooperative agreements with tribes. That number has continued to grow and, even as recently as March 19 of this year, a new agreement was signed transferring O’Rew, a 125-acre property, back to the Yurok Tribe who will co-manage it with the National Park Service, the Save the Redwoods League, and California State Parks.
Such stewardship projects are certainly a step in the right direction, but the elevation of Native voices is still needed across all levels of government and departments. Within the National Park Service, only 1.4% of employees are Native American. Less than 1% of Environmental Protection Agency employees are Native. And without their input on the front lines of environmental protection and conservation we risk overlooking ways to better live with the land, air, and water that give us life. It’s why TCUs and the College Fund work to educate the leaders of tomorrow, inform Native people about the importance of voting to influence federal policy, and to build relationships with these offices. Graduates who go on to serve as policymakers and agency leaders who are grounded in both Indigenous knowledge and the western sciences carry out this sacred duty to place for the benefit of all people and the planet.