CROW AGENCY — The building and highway construction trades program at Little Big Horn College was dropped for the fall semester due to federal funding cuts.
Last school year, students in the building trades program learned life skills, including HVAC installation, carpentry, and electrical work. For an end-of-the-year project, 10 students in the program used those skills to build a 20-foot-by-10-foot tiny house.
That tiny house is now being raffled off for $50 a ticket. Supporters of the building trades program and staff at Little Big Horn College hope proceeds from the raffle will produce enough money to bring the trades program back next semester.
See how the building trades program supports Crow Tribal members and Crow Agency residents below:
In early July, the Trump administration's major tax and spending bill, informally known as the Big Beautiful Bill, was passed by Congress. The bill cut federal spending for the Bureau of Indian Education.
According to the 2026 Department of Interior's Fiscal Year Budget Brief, the Bureau of Indian Education estimated an 88% reduction of federal funding for higher education. In Montana, seven higher education institutions are expected to lose funding, including Little Big Horn College, starting in October.
In July, MTN spoke with officials at Little Big Horn College, who explained the institution receives about $4 million a year from the federal government. Little Big Horn College officials estimate the college will only receive $400,000 this year from the federal government, once the budget cuts go into effect.
RELATED|Official: Federal cuts could remove 90 percent of Montana tribal colleges
Last week, the new school year at Little Big Horn College began with many changes. The trades program (which includes both the construction highway and building trades program) is no longer offered. According to Berthina Nomee, the college's workforce navigator, the college could no longer pay the programs' staff wages.
"If that did not happen, we would've been able to keep our current staff," said Nomee. "I am worried about that."
On Monday, Nomee said that although the program is no longer offered, the college hopes to raise enough money to bring it back for the spring.
During a typical school year, the trades program selects a total of 20 students (10 for each sub-program), and at the end of the year, students receive a one-year certification to enter into an apprenticeship program, post-graduation.
According to Nomee, besides federal funding, the program was also financially supported through a $50,000 donation from Plenty Doors Community Development Cooperation, assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Innovative Opportunities Act, a Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services grant for children and families, and other sources. Nomee said the college has also applied for external workforce development program grants in hopes of being able to bring the program back.
Nomee and staff at the college also found a way to bring the program back locally through raffling off the students' previous project: a tiny home.
"(The raffle is open to) whoever has the chance to learn about this project and the raffle. So, we hope to reach out of (staters) as well," said Nomee.
The raffle is now open and tickets can be purchased through the Little Big Horn College bookstore or in person.
The tiny home took students about six months to complete. For former trades program students, Hannah and Anna Ten Bear, they said they greatly enjoyed learning life skills they can take with them post-graduation.
"It was fun. I liked it, all the framing. I started from the framing all the way to the finish," said Hannah Ten Bear.
Other staff members say although they miss the trades program for the fall semester, they're grateful that college alumni had an opportunity to learn those skills.
"It makes me feel proud to see that the students could do these things here on campus," said Teanna Braine, the college's youth coordinator. "We live in such a rural community. We're kind of far away from Billings, and it's costly when it comes to house repairs."
"Not many people know how to do these kind of things, and for them learning how to come to school for it and learn it... I like it," said Mya Not Afraid, a case manager at the college. "Having the teachers here teach you everything for one year, it's a really good deal."
According to Tim Real Bird, another case manager at the college, students in the trades program can support homeless populations on the Crow Reservation regularly, building tiny homes.
"There's a lot of homelessness in the community. Like I said, there's only 300 hours and homes, and we have 13,000 members," he said.
Charlene Johnson, the executive director of Plenty Doors Community Development Cooperation, one of the trades programs' financial supporters, said the ability to combat homelessness on the reservation is one of the reasons she donated to the tiny home project.
"We experience a severe housing shortage on the reservation, and the fact that this is a project they want to work on is great," said Johnson. "In order to improve the economy, you need a strong workforce."
