SKC is a tribal college, chartered in 1977 under the sovereign governmental authority of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

BisonSat's primary mission objective is to transmit image data of Earth with a targeted ground sample distance of 100 meters.

[3] Some former employees sued the college in 2017 under the Federal False Claims Act, saying that the administration had falsified student records in order to continue receiving public grant funding from the United States Department of Human Services and the United States Department of Indian Health Services.

[4] This suit was dismissed with prejudice in May 2018 by United States District Court, D. Montana, Missoula Division in a determination that the lawsuit violated tribal sovereignty of the Confederation Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

SKC generally serves geographically isolated populations that have no other means to gain higher education beyond the high school level.