Consortium helps Aboriginal students succeed

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For more than a quarter of a century, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium has been representing Indian and First Nation colleges across North America.

Starting out with just a a half dozen member colleges in 1972, the consortium now boasts a membership of 30 higher learning centres.

The majority of the consortium's membership is in the United States (28 out of 30 members are south of the 49th parallel), with the Saskatchewan Federated Indian Colllege and Cardston's Red Crow College making up the total Canadian representation.

The consortium, known more commonly by its acronym, AIHEC, provides a variety of services to it's member schools. It serves as a family network of education where member schools can share information. That networking can assist in the preparation of regional accreditation reviews, faculty and staff development and board governance. The consortium also helps deliver training programs for college presidents, enabling them to receive the benefit of 25 years of post-secondary schooling experience.

For the last 10 years, the consortium has also offered the American Indian College Fund which raises funds from the private sector to provide the support and resources needed to sucessfully operate the membership schools.

Also celebrating its 10th birthday with the cosortium is Tribal College a quarterly magazine which publishes reports on the work being done by Aboriginal colleges and universities. Over the last 40 issues of the magazine, it has helped to build an important forum for academic discussion of issues important to Indian education and life.

The Dull Knife Memorial College on the North Cheyenne Reserveation in Lame Deer, Montana is one of the charter members of AIHEC.

Judi Davis, the vice president of academic affairs at the college said the membership has become a crucial part of the college's existance.

"Being a member of AIHEC could almost be described as having a life-line," she said.

Because Dull Knife, like the rest of the membership, is a tribal college and has very few ties to the state education system, AIHEC provides a family of support and gives credence to the saying that there is strength in numbers.

With just 400 full-time students at the college, Davis said the membership allows the college to project a greater voice.

Most of the benefits of membership go to the colleges themselves, but a big plus for AIHEC members is what the consortium can offer the students.

Each year there is an AIHEC student conference which gives them a chance to share ideas and develop better ways of dealing with school life.

For many students, the transition into a post-secondary education level is difficult, said Davis, especially for Aboriginal students.

"Most of them are first generation college students," she said.

The AIHEC conferences offer links and support to the students to get used to the new environment.

Davis has examined the influence of tribal colleges on the growing number of Indian people who are looking to continue their education.

With the help of AIHEC, tribal colleges are making a noticeable difference, she said.

The success rate of Indian students graduating from four year university programs is a dismal 10 per cent, but those who first attended a tribal college can bolster their chances by 50 per cent, said Davis, who conducted her study for her university thesis.

Another AIHEC member making a difference in schooling Indian people is New Mexico's Crowpoint Institute of Technology.

The institute, located in the state's second poorest county and in the eastern agency of the Navaho Nation, boasts an 85 per cent placement rate and is making a big impact on the 56 per cent unemployment rate in the area, said administrator James Dawson.

"We are working with some of the poorest people in the county and we are putting them to work," he said. "It really feels like we are making a difference."

Further north up the American west coast is D-Q University in Dais California. A charter member of AIHEC, the university has more than 600 Indian students in a population of 1,000.

Dr. Morgan Otis, the university's interim president, said AIHEC offers many benefits to school life. He said the consortium helps to take care of matters which many schools can't find time to put the necessary effort into.

"Most of us are busy just doing the day-to-day operations of the colleges, so we need a central office," Otis said.

Located off and reservation, D-Q University draws much of it's Indian student body from small reservations, or rancherios, in the central California area.

Otis said all the students, not just the Aboriginal ones, but the hispanic and white student populations, come to the facility to learn more about Aboriginal culture, history and life.

Otis said learning more about the Indian people is the root of what AIHEC is all about.

"They are advocates of improving education for all American Indians," he said.

Members of AIHEC come from across the map, but most are located in the west and northwestern United States. North and South Dakota and Montana house more than half of the AIHEC total membership.

Most AIHEC members are community or tribal colleges. The exception is the Sinte Gleska University in Rosebud, South Dakota. Sinte Gleska is the only fully accredited universtiy, offering four-year programs.

It is hoped that in the near future, as more Aboriginal communities see the benefits of the AIHEC network, that more tribal colleges will be built and more Aboriginal people will enter the workforce with not only more of an education, but more knowledge about their own history.

For information on AIHEC, contact their headquarters at 703-838-0400.

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