Alaska Native students from all around Alaska are now able to attend the state’s only tribal college tuition-free.

“We looked at some of the obstacles that students — especially those in rural Alaska — have in going to college and money was one of them,” said Janelle Everett, Iḷisaġvik College’s director of recruitment. “The North Slope is fortunate in that there is wealth here, but that wealth is not necessarily in other parts of the state. People may not have the finances to attend college.”

Iḷisaġvik recently announced that starting next semester, Native students who are over the age of 18 will be able to apply for a tuition waiver to attend both distance learning and campus-based classes.

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