Listen to your students, listen to your faculty, listen to your staff, your community… because we have a common goal to take care of one another in our tribal communities.
—Kathie Maiers, Director, TRIO Student Support Services
SITUATING SALISH KOOTENAI COLLEGE
Salish Kootenai College (SKC), located on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Pablo, Montana, is a tribally chartered college established in 1977 by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. SKC serves the Séliš, Ksanka, and Ql̓ispé peoples. The college enrolled about 697 students in fall 2024, three-quarters of whom were full time and over 70 percent of whom identified as American Indian or Alaska Native. The college offers a learning environment rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems and responsive to community needs, with a wide range of certificates and associates, bachelors, and masters degrees in fields such as education, natural resources, information technology, and Tribal governance.
As in many rural areas, local services are limited and can be geographically dispersed. The Tribe provides services for SKC students and community members, such as health care, child care, and Tribal elder programs, but these may be limited to Tribal members or face resource constraints. Many SKC students start and stop their education multiple times, continuing with college well into adulthood as they balance personal, family, community, and immediate economic considerations with their credential, degree, and career goals.
SKC’s mission centers on serving both Tribal and non-Tribal students while preserving and promoting Indigenous cultures. Its curricula emphasize holistic student development, community engagement, and intergenerational learning. The college’s campus culture is known for being family friendly, with inclusive practices that recognize the role of children and extended kin in student success.
SKC’s approach to student success is grounded in interdependence, cultural continuity, and holistic well-being. Its participation in the Family-Friendly Tribal and Rural Campuses knowledge exchange with the American Indian College Fund, the Urban Institute, and PERG Learning reflects this. The college continues to deepen its intentional efforts to support students not only as scholars, but also as caregivers, parents, and contributors to community life. In line with its values of seeing and responding to community needs, SKC has built on its participation in the Cultivating Native Student Success initiative to explore how caregiving responsibilities intersect with students’ experiences.
About tribal colleges and Universities
Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), most on or near reservation lands, provide culturally relevant curricula and familial student care, grounded in tribal values, culture, and language. Chartered by American Indian Tribes, TCUs furnish students opportunities to further their careers, attain advanced degrees, and support their communities
Opportunities to Build on What Works
Although SKC students benefit from a family-centered culture, there is clear interest in expanding supports, especially child-friendly study spaces on campus, an office or center dedicated to student caregivers, and more information about caregiving or parenting. In response, college leaders are actively working to develop a family-friendly center with a study area that could also be an activity-night venue in the academic building. SKC is also distributing “kid kits” with activities for offices and building a child literacy corner.
Child care is another area for development. Many students want more financial assistance for child care. They also expressed interest in more drop-in and after-school child care, noting that the current on-campus day care opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m., which does not always align 5
with classes. Faculty and staff echoed the need for expanded options, describing this as one of the most important opportunities for SKC. In response, the college is looking into hosting an after-school program to bridge the gap between when public schools let out and when college classes end. They are also evaluating ways to train more early childhood providers and expand offerings by connecting dual-enrolled high school students with the college’s early childhood education program, as well as engaging students completing practica as part of that program.
Meaningful Impact
Students at SKC are expanding their own knowledge and capacity as students while raising and supporting families. SKC recognizes its role as part of the fabric of the community and brings this into the college and the classroom as much as possible. As SKC continues to focus on student caregiver success, the impacts will ripple across generations.
Acknowledgments
This college snapshot was written in partnership with Kimberly Salazar and Theresa Anderson and based in part on insights gathered by Kate Westaby and Cordero Holmes, all from the Urban Institute. We are grateful to our staff and students who informed this summary through participation in community discussions, surveys, and other means of input. And we are grateful to Family-Friendly Tribal and Rural Campuses Project funders—Ascendium Education and the American Indian College Fund—for their support.
Learn More
To find out more about how Salish Kootenai College is supporting student caregivers, contact:
Amie Tryon, Vice President of Academic Affairs, at amie_tryon@skc.edu; Rene Kittle, Director of the Department of Academic Success, at rene_kittle@skc.edu
Kathie Maiers, Director of TRIO Student Support Services, at kathie_maiers@skc.edu.
Apply now and enjoy a unique educational experience that blends Western academic knowledge with Native American perspectives and practices. Benefit from smaller class sizes, personalized attention, and opportunities for hands-on learning and research. Join a supportive community that values cultural diversity and academic excellence, and prepare for a successful career and leadership role in your community. Apply today and start your journey towards a brighter future at SKC!