Tribal College Opens First Branch Campus in Major U.S. City
Credit: American Indian College Fund- There are four TCUs in Minnesota, but until now, none of them were in the state’s largest city.
- TCUs tend to be located in rural areas across the U.S., making this branch campus a change from the norm.
- Red Lake Nation College’s Minneapolis campus opens June 6.
- The college aims to help educate the 72,000 Native Americans who live in Minneapolis.
A new campus in Minneapolis may mark a step forward for tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the U.S.
Red Lake Nation College, a public community college, will celebrate the grand opening of its Minneapolis campus June 6. The institution claims that this will be the first TCU to operate within a major metropolitan area in the U.S.
“Our grand opening represents a significant step toward providing accessible education to Native American communities living in urban areas,” Dan King, president of Red Lake Nation College, said in a statement.
“By establishing our Minneapolis location, we are pioneering a new era of tribal college presence in major metropolitan centers, offering globally relevant courses steeped in Ojibwe culture to prepare students for success in the modern job market.”
TCUs have historically operated within more rural areas of the U.S.
Some campuses are borderline located in major urban centers, like Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in New Mexico. But even SIPI is technically located in unincorporated Bernalillo County, not Albuquerque proper.
Red Lake Nation College’s new Minneapolis campus helps make a TCU education more attainable for many tribal students in the state for the first time. According to Minnesota Compass, 44.2% of Minnesota’s Native American population lives in Minneapolis, yet there has never been a TCU campus in the Twin Cities.
Minnesota currently has four TCUs, none of which have any satellite campuses, according to the American Indian College Fund.
Approximately 163,000 Native Americans resided in the state as of 2021, and 38,000 were between the ages of 18-35. According to Minnesota Compass, just 19.9% of the state’s Native Americans over the age of 25 held a bachelor’s degree or higher at that time.
Red Lake Nation College currently offers two associate degree programs:
- Associate of arts (AA.) in liberal education
- Associate of applied science (AAS) in social and behavioral sciences
The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.