As the new year begins, my leadership team, like many others across the country, is facing the financial impact of the Department of Education’s decision to end funding programs for certain minority-serving institutions, including ours. The department has moved September funds from MSI to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) as part of the expansion of opportunity. However, as an Aboriginal education scholar and university president, I believe this creates new barriers for Aboriginal learners. The decision is complex and requires deeper analysis to understand its lasting impact.
Federal support for Aboriginal education is part of the federal trust responsibility and is codified in at least 150 treaties as well as various statutes and court decisions. These treaties spell out a variety of services, including education, that the U.S. government provides to tribal nations and their citizens in exchange for land. This trust responsibility includes both tribal nations and individual tribal citizens. Ultimately, federal fiduciary duties are both a legal and a moral obligation.
In 2008, Congress created Non-Tribal Institutions Serving Native Americans (NASNTI), a new category of MSI, to secure federal funding to support institutions that educate Native students outside of tribal colleges and universities. Only about 12% of Aboriginal students attend TCU. Stealing more than $54 million from other institutions that serve large numbers of Aboriginal students effectively undermines the federal government’s trust responsibility. Additionally, this funding is provided not only to NASNTI but also to Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNH), generally supporting programs that are open to all qualified students at these institutions, not just Native learners.
This loss is not abstract. At Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, where I serve as president, 37 percent of our students are Native American, representing more than 128 tribal nations and Alaska Native villages. We are the only NASNTI in the state. The latest federal cuts will mean a loss of $2.27 million in critical grant support that has historically funded important academic supports designed to increase student retention and graduation rates, such as our Peer Education Tutoring, Peer Mentoring and Summer Bridge programs.
In my role, I meet with students every week who tell me that the support they receive through these programs gives them the academic confidence to formally enroll or stay in school and the community they feel to belong on campus. For many students, these courses are the difference between continuing on to graduate or leaving higher education altogether. Cutting this funding would undermine the safety net of a level playing field.
Funding institutions that support these students is also critical to increasing graduation rates, developing a strong workforce, and overall tribal nation building. Postsecondary education access and success is a persistent issue in Aboriginal communities, with only 42 per cent of Aboriginal students graduating within six years, compared to 64 per cent nationally, and only 17 per cent of Aboriginal adults holding a bachelor’s degree. At a time when many communities face shortages of teachers, health care providers and public servants, disrupting critical pathways to higher education will harm our economy. Investing in these institutions is not only ethical, but also very practical.
Finally, the decision to reallocate funds from NASNTI is particularly damaging because it treats local serving institutions as competitors to TCU rather than as partners in a shared mission of educating historically underserved students. There is no question that TCU and HBCUs have been severely underfunded for decades. These institutions play important roles historically and today, providing access to higher education and serving community and tribal needs. They deserve strong, sustained federal investment. TCU plays an important role especially in rural areas and tribal communities. That said, necessary investments in these institutions should not come at the expense of NASNTI and other MSIs that educate large numbers of Aboriginal students.
By diverting this funding, the Department of Education is forcing communities that are closely aligned with our commitment to serving Indigenous students and communities to fight for scarce resources while the Department of Education fails to meet its federal fiduciary responsibilities. NASNTI and TCU will not succeed at the expense of each other; we will succeed together when federal policy recognizes our full contributions.
The Ministry of Education has an opportunity to reaffirm rather than shy away from its responsibilities to Indigenous students. That means maintaining investments in TCUs and HBCUs, and restoring support for NASNTI, which educates large numbers of Indigenous learners. When we fund the entire ecosystem of Indigenous-serving colleges and universities, we strengthen Indigenous communities and the country as a whole. True recognition of Aboriginal heritage lies in delivering on the promises made and ensuring every Aboriginal student has the educational resources to thrive.
