Outer Coast College

Outer Coast

Type	Unaccredited private college[1]
Established	2015
Location	Sitka , Alaska , United States 57°03′05″N 135°19′18″W / 57.05135°N 135.32159°W / 57.05135; -135.32159
Campus	Rural
Website	outercoast.org

Outer Coast is an unaccredited private college^[1] in Sitka, Alaska, United States. It opened a two-year undergraduate program in fall 2024.^[2] Outer Coast admitted a freshman class of 20 students in 2024 and a similar number the following year, for a total student body of approximately 40.^[3] The first undergraduate class graduated in 2026.^[4]

History

After Sheldon Jackson College closed in 2007, the title to the campus was transferred to the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in February 2011.^[5] In the summer of 2014, Alaska state representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins began deliberating with alumni, teachers and students of Deep Springs College about the possibility of founding a new college on the historic campus in partnership with the Fine Arts Camp.^[6] Full-time work to create Outer Coast began in September 2015.^[7]

The inaugural Outer Coast Summer Seminar launched in the summer of 2018,^[7] drawing in rising high school juniors and seniors from across Alaska and the continental United States to participate in rigorous college-level courses and service projects.^[8]

Outer Coast ran three iterations of the Outer Coast Year, a nine-month, credit-bearing intensive for high school graduates. The Outer Coast Year transitioned to the full two-year undergraduate program in 2024 in partnership with the University of Alaska Southeast. The institution continues to offer yearly Summer Seminars for high school students.

Admissions at Outer Coast are need-blind and run on a sliding-scale, means-based cost of attendance model.^[9]

Academics

Outer Coast is modeled on Deep Springs' "three pillars" of academics, labor, and self-governance. In academics, students enroll in a rotating series of seminars across disciplines as well as core Indigenous Studies courses, which prominently features Tlingit language learning.^[10] In self governance, students are actively involved in the governance and operations of the institution through Student Body ("SB") meetings and smaller committees vested with particular responsibilities and decision-making authority. At Outer Coast, the labor pillar is reinterpreted as the service pillar. Students develop service projects with community organizations in Sitka.^[6] Outer Coastʼs curriculum places emphasis on bridging Western and Indigenous ways of knowing, and educating students about the Sheldon Jackson campusʼ historical role as an American Indian boarding school.^[11][12]

The college is not accredited but its website claims that the college is "authorized as a postsecondary institution by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education (ACPE) and confers credit through our collaboration with University of Alaska Southeast"^[13]. It also claims to be pursuing accreditation.^[1]

References