Salish Kootenai College (SKC) began as a branch campus of Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) occupying office space donated by Polson School District. Beginning in the Winter term of 1977, the Reservation Extension Center boasted 16 part-time faculty and 49 students. The Center offered 45 credits at seven sites around the reservation. That same year, a resolution was passed by Tribal Council to formally establish a tribal college on the Flathead Reservation. The college subsequently applied for membership in the new AIHEC (American Indian Higher Education Consortium) organization, at the time a consortium of 12 colleges.The following academic year, the college had six full-time faculty and eventually moved to Pablo.