Sacramento State Announces New Native American College Launching in Fall 2025
Credit: Sacramento State / Christian Navarro- California State University, Sacramento announced the formation of a new Native American College on campus.
- The college will provide “community-based learning” to students interested in tribal sovereignty and leadership.
- Students accepted into the college will be required to minor in Native American studies with an emphasis on Native American leadership.
- California is home to the largest Native American population in the country but currently has no accredited tribal colleges or universities.
California State University, Sacramento (Sac State) is centered among six different tribal nations, but Native Americans make up just a small fraction of its student population.
The university just announced a new effort aimed at cementing Native students’ belonging with the creation of a new Native American College on campus — a first-of-its-kind college for the California State University (CSU) system.
“We want to serve as the place where Native students want to come and study and learn and grow in an environment that is intentionally designed to serve them,” Sac State President Dr. Luke Wood said Nov. 8 at the college’s announcement at the state Capitol.
The Native American College at Sacramento State will provide “community-based learning” to students interested in Native history, culture, and sovereignty. While the college is designed to support Native American students, it is open to all students, regardless of race or background, who want to study the sovereignty of Native tribes and tribal leadership.
Dr. Annette Reed, an enrolled citizen of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and former chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, will serve as the first dean of the college.
“The Sacramento State Native American College is more than an academic institution; it is a space of belonging, empowerment, and collaboration,” Reed said in a statement.
“We are creating a learning environment that values Native American knowledge systems and traditions while preparing students to address the challenges of today and tomorrow. It is an honor to lead this transformative initiative.”
Encouraging Native Student Belonging
Students can apply to the Native American College as first-year or transfer students after receiving their acceptance to Sac State. Current students will also be eligible to apply to join the college.
Students enrolled in the program will be required to minor in Native American studies, a program that Reed designed herself, with an emphasis on Native American leadership.
Those accepted to the college will be grouped into cohorts, living together and taking the majority of their general education courses together as a unit, although each student will be able to major in any area that they are accepted into.
“When you’re such a small population, going to a very large institution, it can feel overwhelming, and you can feel like you’re all alone,” Reed said in an interview with BestColleges.
“Going through classes together helps people. If they have similar interests, forming study groups [and] different alliances with each other, that will help support their academic career.”
Additionally, the college will provide specific support services, including faculty mentors. The college will also have its own “centralized physical space” that will be home to advisors and counselors, tutors, computers, classrooms, and meeting space.
“This is where career development begins,” Reed said. “Networking, so people can explore different areas. Relationship-building, so they have these relationships once they leave the campus.”
A First-of-Its-Kind College for CSU
Reed says Sac State is the best place for a Native American college because of the university’s demographics, as well as its proximity and positive relationships with local tribal nations.
According to enrollment data from fall 2023, Native American students made up only 0.2% of CSU’s population, or 833 students out of over 454,000. Reed estimates that this fall, around 275 students at Sac State were Native American.
She added that the city of Sacramento is surrounded by six different tribal nations, which the university has been focused on creating a positive working relationship with. She hopes that by building these relationships, students in the college will be able to learn directly from tribe leaders.
“At Sac State, we’ve developed relationships with the different tribal nations in the area, and that takes a while to do because relationship-building takes years, and it takes having good interactions,” she explained. “The students going through the Native American College will have a very strong connection with the communities.”
Reed says the response from the community about the Native American College has been “overwhelmingly positive,” highlighting that tribal nations and community members across the state agree that the college can educate more students about Native American people, nations, and communities.
“This new Sacramento State Native American College is a testament to the power of education in preserving and uplifting our tribal nations,” Assemblymember James Ramos, a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla Tribe and the first California Native American elected to the state Legislature, said in a statement.
“It’s inspiring to see a university take such bold action to provide culturally relevant opportunities for Native students while building bridges between academia and tribal communities. I commend Sacramento State for setting a precedent that I hope others will follow.”
The formation of the Native American College comes less than a year after Sacramento State announced its plans for a Black Honors College, an “enhanced academic experience” focused on Black history, life, and culture.
The Black Honors College officially opened its doors to its inaugural cohort of 80 students in August, with 80 more students expected to join as transfer students in spring 2025. Similar to the Native American College, the Black Honors College has its own administrative leadership, staff, and space set aside for it from the university.
Not a Tribal College
While the Native American College at Sac State is designed to support Native American students, it is not a tribal college or university (TCU).
TCUs are postsecondary schools chartered by tribal governments and located on or near Native American reservations, according to Education USA, which is run by the State Department.
According to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, there are more than 30 accredited TCUs across the country. While California is home to the largest Native American population in the country, it currently has no accredited TCUs.
However, three tribal institutions in the state, California Indian Nations College in Palm Desert, California Tribal College in Sacramento, and Kumeyaay Community College in El Cajon, are currently in the process of earning accreditation.
Reed explained that the Native American College is similar to a TCU because students will learn about Native history, culture, and sovereignty, as well as have tribal leadership training. However, the college is not affiliated with any specific tribe and is within Sacramento State.
“Tribal colleges are very needed within our country, and, hopefully, the tribal colleges in California will be able to succeed in accreditation,” she said.
As for the Native American College at Sac State, Reed hopes students will gain the skills necessary to become successful leaders.
“Five, 10 years from now, I’d like to be able to meet them after they graduate, and they feel fulfilled, within their own careers, and becoming successful leaders within our communities.”