Tribal Colleges Seeking Stability in Federal Funding Cycles: For Leonard Dauphinais, one of the most challenging things about running a tribal college is not a lack of federal funding but trying to figure out when that funding will arrive at his school.
“Like everyone else our challenges during this economic downturn are significant,” says Dauphinais, who is the acting president of Turtle Mountain Community College in Balcourt, North Dakota.
“We're still up and operating – so that's the good news,” continues Dauphinais, “but trying to get our federal funding in a timely manner has been an ongoing issue for us.”
That's because for years the money that the nation's tribal colleges have received through the Bureau of Indian Affairs arrives only after Congress has signed off on a new fiscal year budget, a process that oftentimes takes months.
