Outer Coast

Outer Coast aspires to be a two-year liberal arts college in Sitka, Alaska built on the pillars of academics, service & labor, and self-governance. We offer an innovative model of higher education that bridges Indigenous and European ways of knowing and serves not only students but also families, elders, and community members. Our vision is to create a new pathway for students to unlock the promise of higher education: empowering young people whose talents could go unrealized, bridging the gap between high school and four-year institutions that match students’ potential, serving as a launchpad for their educational and career aspirations, and giving them the tools to transform their own lives, their communities, and the broader world. In August 2024, we launched our two-year undergraduate program as our next step toward realizing our vision. To date, we have run six academic programs for high school graduates and eight Summer Seminars for current high schoolers, serving more than 230 students from across Alaska and the globe. For more on Outer Coast, see outercoast.org.

Our model is founded on the pillars of academics, service & labor, and self-governance, inspired in part by Deep Springs College in California. Outer Coast fosters a culture of excellence in liberal arts teaching and learning which extends beyond the abstract, cloistered, and didactic and into the concrete, place-based, and practical. Students are immersed in the real world rather than isolated from it by bearing responsibility for and contributing to the interconnected community of Sitka and Lingít Aaní, the land of the Tlingit people. An Outer Coast education does more than teach critical thinking and grant degrees: it provides students with the purpose, skills, and mindsets to tackle challenging problems. As co-creators and stewards of the institution, they develop the agency and ability to make decisions that have meaningful consequences for our world at large.

About half of all Outer Coast students are Alaskan—most of whom are Alaska Native and/or from rural Alaska. We meet 100% of demonstrated financial need for all students. After two years at Outer Coast, students are in a position to transfer, with the support and guidance of Outer Coast staff, to four-year institutions to complete their undergraduate education.