The grants include Pell grants and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, which do not need to be paid back.
In February, the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) awarded ACC “candidate for accreditation” status – see Accreditation to read an earlier story. “That normally brings with it the benefits of being fully accredited, including access to Title IV grants,” says ACC President Keith Hamilton. “We have diligently pursued these benefits.”
The school is eligible to be fully accredited in three years. The ABHE will continue to monitor the work of the school during that time.
Fewer than five percent of Alaska Native high school graduates complete their first semester of college, statistics show. ACC operates part of its program in cooperation with nearby Kenai Peninsula College, an extension of the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
Most of the students at the school in Soldotna come from small and even remote villages. The college helps students transition from village life to their first year of college.
The cost of school can be a tremendous burden. Unemployment in some villages runs higher than 40 percent, and many of the students must help their families with subsistence farming and fishing during breaks in the school year.
