When the Tohono O’Odham Nation’s surveyed its members last year
about barriers that they faced to obtaining a college degree, recurring
themes kept cropping up. The nearest college to the Sells, Arizona
community was more than an hour’s drive away. Moving to a city with a
college was not an option for others. And many found the high cost of
big-city rent prohibitive.
Tribal leaders in this southwest Arizona desert town, located near
the U.S.-Mexico border, believe they have a solution. They plan to open
a tribal college offering two-year degrees.
We’re already looking for someone that has a really strong
background and experience as a college president,” says Rosilda Manuel,
the tribe’s director of education.
If the Tohono O’Odham Nation succeeds in its quest, the planned new
institution would be the nation’s thirty-second tribal-run college.
Most tribal schools are community colleges.
Arizona has nineteen other public community colleges and one other
tribal college — Navajo Community College in northern Arizona. But the
proposed Tohono O’Odham tribal college is not a done deal. Several
hurdles still must be overcome.
The tribe hopes to get a few classes started by this fall if the
new school is approved by the Tohono O’Odham Nation’s tribal council.
The ambitious project falls in step with a national trend that has seen
more and more of the country’s Native American tribes developing their
own higher education programs.
Native American education leaders say the tribal higher education
institutions fill a unique niche on the reservation. The colleges offer
culturally appropriate classes to thousands of people who otherwise
would not receive an education because they lack the transportation or
funds needed to attend elsewhere.
