When Amelia Giron enrolled at California Indian Nations College in Palm Desert in 2023, she was newly sober, without stable housing and struggling with drug addiction. She also was estranged from her four children.
Two years later, Giron, 41, says she has maintained her sobriety, rebuilt her relationship with her children and watched her two oldest children join her in taking classes at the college. She is expected to graduate this month with an associate degree in sociology and credits the tribal college with helping her reconnect with her family and her culture.
The college, founded in 2018, is gaining new attention as California lawmakers consider legislation aimed at strengthening tribal colleges’ place in the state’s higher education system. California is home to more Native residents than any other state, yet it has only one confirmed tribal college and limited ongoing state support for tribal higher education.
Two bills introduced this year would change that framework. Assembly Bill 1641 would add tribal colleges to the state Education Code’s definition of public higher education. Assembly Bill 1769 would establish a process to make units earned at accredited tribal colleges transferable to California community colleges and California State University campuses, while asking the University of California to do the same.
College leaders say the proposals, combined with the school’s recent accreditation, could help secure more stable funding and give Native students better access to culturally grounded education.
Celeste Townsend, president of California Indian Nations College, said Native students have too often been overlooked by traditional education systems. For students such as Giron, she said, tribal colleges provide academic pathways that also honor culture, language and community.
For Giron, that support made a difference in her recovery.
“When I started participating in the different workshops, and I started to really learn the culture it really helped me,” Giron said. “Understanding and also just participating in ceremony, sweat lodge and stuff like that … it helped really ground me and keep me on the road to recovery.”
Native students continue to graduate from college at lower rates than many other student groups nationwide. In California’s community college system, 58% of American Indian or Alaska Native students remain enrolled after their first year, compared with 68% of students overall. At California State University, the four-year graduation rate for American Indian or Alaska Native students is 29.1%, compared with 37.3% overall. At the University of California, the four-year graduation rate for American Indian students is 62.7%, compared with 74% for all students.
California Indian Nations College is located in Palm Desert, near the Coachella Valley. Until recently, it offered associate degrees through a partnership with College of the Desert, which meant its courses were fully transferable because degrees were issued by the community college.
That arrangement is changing. The tribal college has received an eight-year accreditation from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, allowing it to award associate degrees independently.
California has an Indigenous population of more than 700,000 people, the largest of any state. In addition to California Indian Nations College, the state lists California Tribal College in Sacramento and Kumeyaay Community College near El Cajon as tribal colleges. Officials from those two schools did not respond to multiple requests from the original reporting organization to confirm whether they remain in operation.
Shawn Ragan, executive vice chair of California Indian Nations College, said tribal colleges are part of a broader effort to return education to Native communities after generations of harm.
“Education has been used as a tool of colonialization,” Ragan said. “It’s been used to strip language, identity, culture, from Native Americans.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, California Indian Nations College has delivered its courses fully online. Even so, students regularly gather in person for cultural activities, including basket weaving, hikes, sweat lodge ceremonies and community events.
Giron now serves as the college’s student body vice president for academics and clubs, a new role created this year. The student government is also developing bylaws and working to establish a bank account.
Giron said she grew up disconnected from her mother’s side of the family, which has ties to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. After her younger brother began attending California Indian Nations College and recommended it, she decided to enroll.
One of the most meaningful moments came when she invited her four teenage children, from whom she was estranged, to join her on a college-sponsored hike. They accepted. As they walked through Palm Desert’s canyons, a cultural guide explained the medicinal and ancestral uses of plants native to the area. At a body of water, the guide sang bird songs and burned sage, Giron said.
“That was that first connection, again, with my kids,” she said. “We’re building a relationship. CINC is a huge part of that. It was that bridge between me and my family, and reuniting us.”
Giron said the college’s approach differs from her experiences in K-12 schools and at College of the Desert because of its emphasis on community. From the beginning, she said, she felt that administrators and instructors were personally invested in her success. Without that support, she said, she may have relapsed.
In some classes, tests and discussions use a “talking circle” model, allowing students to collaborate and speak with one another rather than work in isolation.
Giron chose sociology because she sees it as a path toward helping others. She is considering work as a counselor, social worker or therapist.
“That same system that was designed to oppress us, we’re now utilizing as a tool, to be resilient, come out on top, and just prosper,” she said. “I just feel so empowered by the idea of being a part of that.”
The college’s accreditation, granted Feb. 3, makes California Indian Nations College the only tribal college in the state accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. Accreditation can help colleges qualify for federal grants and contracts, distribute federal financial aid and ease the transfer of credits.
The school does not yet have a steady funding source. It opened with $9 million in seed funding from the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized tribe that also pays tuition costs for all students. Three years ago, the state provided the college with $5 million in one-time funding. In 2025, the state added $10 million. This year, the college is seeking $13.5 million from the state.
Townsend said accreditation gives students confidence that their degrees will be recognized by other institutions while still reflecting a culturally specific education.
“We’re showing students that through education, the value of a degree can carry a lot of weight,” Townsend said. “We’re giving them that empowerment, and we’re proud to do it and open the door and encourage them to go further.”
Since opening in 2018, the college has served 517 students. Three-quarters of them are first-generation college students. In 2024, 59% of graduates transferred to another college or university, an increase of nearly 30% from the prior academic year.
During the 2024-25 academic year, 25 students earned associate degrees from the tribal college. Townsend expects 33 students to graduate this spring.
“This strengthens academic pathways as well as honoring our commitment to our people, to educate … and empower them, bringing that community reciprocity,” Townsend said.
Student body president Erica Muñoz, 22, of Banning, said she traveled to Sacramento last year to speak with lawmakers about Cal Grant support for students at California Indian Nations College. Muñoz, who grew up in San Bernardino, said she was proud to advocate for herself and her school.
In high school, Muñoz said, she did not feel strongly supported by teachers or counselors. She said she felt at risk of becoming another Native student who fell behind. That changed when she enrolled at the tribal college, becoming the first person in her family to attend college.
“This school is not just an institution, it’s a community, it’s a family,” Muñoz said. “There’s going to be more opportunities for students, more career pathways to open up. This is giving us the structure and stability that we’ve always wanted.”
Under current state law, public higher education is defined as the California Community Colleges, California State University and University of California systems. AB 1641 would add tribal colleges and universities to that definition.
Ragan said the change would formally acknowledge tribal colleges as part of California’s higher education landscape.
“The Native community has been invisible throughout the nation and also in California,” Ragan said. “We’re not part of the framework for how California thinks about higher education.”
Assemblymember James Ramos, a Democrat whose district includes parts of San Bernardino County, is a co-sponsor of AB 1641. Ramos became the first Native American elected to the state Assembly in 2018.
Ramos said the bill is about ensuring tribal colleges are recognized by the state and able to help close long-standing education gaps.
“The tribal community continues to suffer at a rate higher than other groups that are out there with high school attainment, college attainment and education attainment,” Ramos said. “Tribal colleges are a way for tribes to start to fill in that gap of making sure that people do pursue higher education.”
Ramos also authored AB 1769, introduced Feb. 23. That bill would require the Cal State Board of Trustees and the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to create and implement transfer agreements for accredited tribal colleges. It would also ask the UC Regents to establish a similar process.
Ragan said the bills have already helped bring tribal colleges into discussions about the future of higher education in California.
“It opened doors for us to be part of the conversations,” Ragan said. “As California is doing its master planning, or any kind of higher education planning, that tribal colleges are included in that conversation. This is a first step towards eventually becoming a regular line item in the state budget, but there’s still a lot between here and there.”
Original source: CalMatters
