Byron Dorgan: “many people ask the question--if you have other colleges elsewhere in the country, why is there a need for tribal…”

“many people ask the question--if you have other colleges elsewhere in the country, why is there a need for tribal colleges? The answer to that, very simply, is that a substantial number of women are attending these colleges, especially women who are living in poverty, many of them well above the 18- or 20-year-old age when people are moving into college. And because tribal college students are older and female--often single mothers in their late twenties or thirties--the ability to go to a tribal college on the reservation itself allows them to access the support of families for child care. That support is often the difference between going to college and not going to college; being able to have an opportunity for a higher degree or not being able to have the opportunity. It is in evidence all across this country that these tribal colleges work, whereas in other circumstances those same people, who are now proud graduates, would probably not have had the opportunity to go on for an advanced education.”