Hundreds enroll in state's tribal colleges

Tulsa World
By S.E. RUCKMAN World Staff Writer
7/8/2007

OKMULGEE -- Their enrollment numbers are nowhere near the totals at state schools, but tribal colleges are posting figures that were nonexistent five years ago, officials said.

The four tribal colleges in Oklahoma average a total of approximately 350 enrollees per semester, school figures show.

School sites fall within the tribes' jurisdictional boundaries. The Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribal College is in Weatherford; the Comanche Nation College is in Lawton; the College of the Muscogee Nation is in Okmulgee; and the Pawnee Nation College is in Pawnee.

All of the tribal colleges have academic relationships with sponsoring colleges while they work toward independent accreditation. Officials said the sponsorships allow the courses completed at these schools to be transferable to other state colleges.

Currently, tribal schools offer two-year associate's degrees.

The Creek college is sponsored by Oklahoma State University; Cheyenne & Arapaho is sponsored by Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford; Pawnee Nation College is sponsored by Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa; and the Comanche Nation College is offered under Cameron University in Lawton.

Angela Bunner, College of the Muscogee Nation, said the Creek school's sponsorship by nearby OSU-Okmulgee suits it.

"We're a college within a college, but our courses are, by design, ours," she said. "There's been a big tribal college movement."

Courses can be as general as core curriculum offerings, such as algebra, and as specific as tribal history. The curriculums vary by location and each tribe's particular interests. For example, the Creek college offers gaming management classes because the tribe owns significant gaming interests.

At all the colleges, tribal studies figure prominently, officials said.

The type of student also varies, officials said. Many are members of that particular tribe, but not all. Some are non-native members seeking smaller classroom sizes and the convenience of the tribal college, said Debbie Echohawk, education and training director for the Pawnee Nation.

"We have one student who is non-native who was injured on the job and is retraining to be a teacher," she said.

SWOSU's dean of arts and sciences, Radwan Al-Jarrah, said tribal colleges will build good transcripts where diversity is key. The Cheyenne college just finished its first full semester.

"I'm not a tribal member, I'm Jordanian, but I can see this is a noble cause because we are in a community surrounded by Cheyenne and Arapahos," he said. "It's a great help to them and to us."

Al-Jarrah said all the state's tribal colleges have enrollment percentage goals of 51 percent tribal members. Meanwhile, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation College estimates 95 percent of its enrollment are Muscogee citizens, Bunner said.

Paying for courses at tribal colleges is like going to a state or private university. However, many of the sponsoring tribes have special education monies for their citizens that are easily accessible, said Comanche Nation College's DeAnn Sovo.

All four tribal schools have formed the Oklahoma Tribal College Coalition. Representatives meet regularly to discuss development on issues ranging from enrollment to curriculum.