U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

93–804 PDF 2015

S. HRG. 112–929 

SECURING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR 

NATIVE AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS: THE 

NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION ACT OF 2012 

FIELD HEARING 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, 

LABOR, AND PENSIONS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

ON

EXAMINING HOW WE FUND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THAT OPERATE UNDER A MANDATE TO PROVIDE FREE TUITION FOR NATIVE 

AMERICAN STUDENTS, FOCUSING ON ADVANCING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS 

AUGUST 22, 2012 (Denver, CO) 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ 
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS 

TOM HARKIN, Iowa, Chairman 

BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland 

JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico 

PATTY MURRAY, Washington 

BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont 

ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania 

KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina 

JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee 

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska 

MARK KIRK, Illinois 

PAMELA SMITH, Staff Director, Chief Counsel 

LAUREN MCFERRAN, Deputy Staff Director 

FRANK MACCHIAROLA, Republican Staff Director 

(II) 
C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2012 

Page 

COMMITTEE MEMBER

Bennet, Hon. Michael F., Chairman, a U.S. Senator from the State of Colorado, opening statement ...................................................................................... 1 

GUEST

Campbell, Hon. Ben Nighthorse, a U.S. Senator from the State of Colorado 

(Retired), statement ............................................................................................. 44 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44 

WITNESSES—PANEL I 

Mendoza, William, Director, White House Initiative on American Indian and 

Alaska Native Education, Washington, DC ....................................................... 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 

Garcia, Hon. Joseph A., Lieutenant Governor, State of Colorado, Denver, 

CO .......................................................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 

WITNESSES—PANEL II 

Thomas, Dene Kay, Ph.D., President, Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO ........... 17 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 18 

Johnson, Jacqueline R., Ph.D., Chancellor, University of Minnesota Morris, 

Morris, MN ........................................................................................................... 20 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 23 

Echohawk, John E., Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund, Boulder, CO .................................................................................................................. 27 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 28 

Tsabetsaye, Byron, Student Body President, Fort Lewis College, Durango, 

CO .......................................................................................................................... 34

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 

Statements, articles, publications, etc.: 

Lewis Wittry, Vice President, Associated Students of Fort Lewis College .. 52 

National Congress of American Indians ......................................................... 53 

Letters of Support: 

John W. Hickenlooper, Governor, State of Colorado, Denver CO ................ 55 

Hereford Percy, Chairman, Colorado Commission on Higher Education, 

Denver, CO .................................................................................................... 56 

Chad Smith, Principal, Chief Cherokee NationTM ......................................... 57 

Hon. Joseph A. Garcia ...................................................................................... 57 

John E. Echohawk ............................................................................................ 58 

Alysha Guthrie ................................................................................................. 59 

Noel Altaha, White Mountain Apache Tribe, Class of 2013 ......................... 59 

(III) 
(IV) 

Resolutions: 

National Indian Gaming Association .............................................................. 62 

State of Colorado House Joint Resolution ...................................................... 65 

Mescalero Apache Tribe ................................................................................... 68 

Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council ................................................................... 69 

National Congress of American Indians ......................................................... 71 
(1) 

SECURING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 

FOR NATIVE AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS: THE NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION 

ACT OF 2012 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2012 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS, 

Denver, Colorado. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:05 a.m., in the Old 

Supreme Court Chambers, Colorado State Capitol, Room 220, Hon. 

Michael Bennet, presiding. 

Present: Senator Bennet. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BENNET

Senator BENNET. Thank you all for being here today. I want to 

make two observations at the outset. I have no gavel, other than 

my fist. So I’m going to try not to use that. And the other is that 

I’ve never sat 4 feet above anybody that I was talking to. So let’s 

attempt to believe that we’re all sitting at the same level, which 

we are, and we should be. 

With that, I’d like to call this field hearing of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to order. 

Thank you, Treasurer Juanita Plentyholes, for that kind welcome 

on behalf of the Ute Tribe. 

I want to especially thank those who have traveled a great distance to be here with us today and Chairman Harkin and Ranking 

Member Enzi of the HELP Committee for holding this hearing 

today. I look forward to working with them on both the bill we discuss today and the broader goal of advancing educational opportunities for Native American students. 

I also want to acknowledge Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, 

the former chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, who is here, and 

I’m going to call on him later in the proceedings to make a few remarks. Thank you for being here today, Senator Campbell. 

I’m going to be brief in my comments so we can hear from the 

real experts on this issue, what they have to say. 

We’re here today to discuss a matter of great importance, the 

successful education of the Nation’s Native American youth. We’re 

going to examine how we fund educational institutions that operate 

under a mandate to provide free tuition for Native American students. These schools received land from the Federal Government in 

exchange for the tuition waiver obligation. 
2 

The State of Minnesota through the University of Minnesota at 

Morris and the State of Colorado through Fort Lewis College can 

both be proud of what they’ve done through these tuition waiver 

programs. With the help of Colorado’s tuition waiver program, in 

just the last 11 years, the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship 

Fund has provided tuition waivers for 16,408 students from 46 

States representing 269 tribes. Fort Lewis awards more undergraduate degrees to Native American students than any other 4- 

year institution in the Nation. 

The University of Minnesota Morris has also played a critical 

role in higher education for Native American students with a program that has waived over $20 million of tuition since its inception 

in 1960. The enrollment of Native Americans at this school has 

doubled in the last 10 years, and in the fall of 2011, the school enrolled over 250 Native American students. 

Despite great advances in overcoming grave historical injustices, 

Native Americans still face unemployment and poverty rates well 

above the national average. Our Nation clearly needs to provide 

more opportunities for higher education for Native Americans since 

only 13 percent of Native American youth hold a baccalaureate degree compared to 30 percent of all youth. 

Even in the recent recession, the unemployment rate among 

those with a college degree in this country never exceed 4.5 percent. That’s a pretty significant stress test, it seems to me, of the 

value we place on a college education. And that’s why our work 

today is so important. We need to examine what we can do to ensure that these tuition waiver programs thrive into the future so 

that educational opportunities for Native American youth can continue to grow. 

The question before us today is not whether or not the tuition 

waiver program should continue. The waivers clearly should continue, and all of us engaged in this issue are deeply committed to 

that. The question we face is how we can equitably share the responsibilities for these programs. We need to have a thorough conversation as to who should bear cost of these programs in the future to best sustain them. I hope this hearing today will shed light 

on these questions and explore the overall importance of higher 

education for the Native American community. 

With that, I’m going to conclude my remarks and turn it over to 

the real experts who are here today. And I would like to introduce 

our first panel. 

I’d like to welcome William Mendoza, who serves as the Director 

of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. Originally from the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux 

reservations in South Dakota, Mr. Mendoza, I am very proud to 

say, has degrees from both Fort Lewis College and Montana State 

University. He has worked as both a teacher and a principal, arguably the hardest jobs there are. 

I want to thank you for coming from Washington to be with us 

today, and I look forward to hearing your testimony. 

I would also like to introduce my friend, the Hon. Joseph Garcia, 

who serves as Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and the executive 

director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. The 

Lieutenant Governor also serves as the chairman of the Colorado 
3 

Commission of Indian Affairs, providing a direct link between Colorado and its Ute tribes, the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. 

The Lieutenant Governor has previously served as chair of the 

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. He has also 

previously served as president of both Pikes Peak Community College and Colorado State University at Pueblo. 

Thank you both for being here today. I think we’ll start with Mr. 

Mendoza. 

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM MENDOZA, DIRECTOR, WHITE 

HOUSE INITIATIVE ON AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, DC 

Mr. MENDOZA. Thank you, Senator Bennet. As you mentioned, 

my name is William Mendoza, and I am the director for the White 

House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. 

I’d like to acknowledge your work on S. 3504, the Native American 

Education Act of 2012, and I appreciate the opportunity to testify 

today about the work that the Administration is doing to expand 

educational opportunities and improve outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native students. 

At the White House Tribal Nations Conference on December 2, 

2011, President Obama, joined by cabinet secretaries and other 

senior administration officials, met with tribal leaders from federally recognized tribes for the third consecutive year to continue to 

strengthen our government-to-government relationships. In reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure that 

tribal nations are full partners with the Federal family, the President announced the signing of Executive Order 13592 entitled ‘‘Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities.’’ 

The mission and function of the White House Initiative is to expand educational opportunities and improve educational outcomes 

for all American Indian and Alaska Native students. This includes 

helping to ensure that American Indian students have opportunities to learn their native languages, cultures, histories, and receive 

a complete and competitive education that prepares them for college, career, and productive and satisfying lives. 

With respect to post-secondary education, the Initiative works to 

implement strategies to promote the expanded implementation of 

education reforms that have shown evidence of success in enabling 

American Indian students to acquire a rigorous and well-rounded 

education; increase access to support services that prepare them for 

college, careers, and civic involvement; reduce the student dropout 

rate and help more students who stay in high school prepare for 

college and careers; and increase college access and completion by 

strengthening the capacity of post-secondary institutions. 

We know we need to do better when it comes to meeting the academic and cultural needs of our American Indian and Alaska Native students across the Nation. American Indian and Alaska Native young adults lag behind their white peers in employment and 

educational attainment. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2010, white young adults, ages 16 to 24, had 
4 

the lowest rate of unemployment, while American Indian and Alaska Native young adults had the highest. 

And according to the 2010 U.S. Census data, about 30 percent of 

all youth and adults in the general population held baccalaureate 

degrees, compared with just 13 percent of the American Indian and 

Alaska Native youth and adults. These statistics and, of course, 

many others make clear that more must be done to expand opportunities and improve outcomes. 

In order to meet President Obama’s goal for college attainment, 

there will need to be an additional 112,000 American Indian and 

Alaska Native students completing college by the year 2020. Working together to support TCUs is also important in achieving this 

goal. 

Our Nation’s 37 tribally controlled TCUs, which serve approximately 33,000 students and whose student body is at least 50 percent American Indian and Alaska Native students, fulfill a unique 

role in American Indian and Alaska Native communities by acting 

as safeguards and champions of tribal languages and cultures. 

TCUs are also public institutions, and they provide high-quality 

education and career-building opportunities to students of all ages, 

while also serving as a catalyst for economic development, particularly on reservations. 

It is also important to note that more than 90 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native post-secondary students attend institutions of higher education that are not tribally controlled. These 

include Native American-Serving Non-Tribally Controlled Institutions, where the student body is at least 10 percent American Indian and Alaska Native students. 

In addition to providing a high-quality education and careerbuilding opportunities for these students, these Native AmericanServing Non-Tribally Controlled Institutions are working to improve and expand their capacity to serve American Indian and 

Alaska Natives by engaging in such activities as expanding dual 

enrollment opportunities, improving academic and student services 

to support student success and retention, and increasing the number of American Indian and Alaska Native students who pursue advanced degrees. 

The Federal Government, of course, plays an important role in 

improving the post-secondary education attainment of American Indian and Alaska Native students, not only because these students 

face barriers to achievement and persistence in post-secondary education, but also because the Federal Government has a trust responsibility to help these students succeed. Through the Race to 

the Top: College Affordability and Completion and the First in the 

World proposals, the Administration has offered a comprehensive 

approach to tackle the rising costs of college for all students, including American Indian and Alaska Native students. 

In addition, the Administration has worked with Congress to 

take a number of steps to address the challenge of helping to keep 

college affordable and accessible for all students. Foremost, we 

have invested more than $40 billion in Pell grants, extending aid 

to 3 million more college students for a total of over 9 million recipients, raising the maximum award to an estimated $5,635 for 
5 

the upcoming 2013–14 academic year. This represents a $905 increase in the maximum award since 2008. 

Yet the Federal commitment to post-secondary education of 

American Indian and Alaska Native students cannot be limited 

only to the work of the Administration. The Administration, Congress, post-secondary institutions, States, and tribes must all work 

together to keep building on our momentum to make an affordable 

college education accessible and available to all students who want 

one, and where appropriate, to continue support of historical obligations to fund that education for certain populations like American Indian and Alaska Native students. 

Thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native individuals 

and students around the country benefit from this continued demonstration of commitment and are appreciative of States that continue to uphold their obligations. These individuals are contributing not only to their tribes, but also directly to the strength and 

well-being of the States in which they reside and to the Nation as 

a whole. 

At a time when higher education is more important than ever for 

our shared future, States should not turn to higher education budgets as a source for cuts. Such cuts often lead to tuition spikes and 

higher dropout rates, particularly for vulnerable populations like 

American Indian and Alaska Native students. This Administration 

has made a strong commitment to upholding the United States’ 

trust responsibility toward tribes and is committed to doing our 

part. 

Senator Bennet, thank you and the other members of the HELP 

Committee for holding this hearing. I look forward to working with 

you and this committee on this and other vitally important issues 

facing the Indian community. I would be happy to answer any 

questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Mendoza follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF WILLIAM MENDOZA

Good morning. My name is William Mendoza, and I am the director of the White 

House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Education at the 

U.S. Department of Education. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today about 

the work the Administration is doing to expand educational opportunities and improve outcomes for AI/AN students. 

I would also like to acknowledge Senator Bennet’s work on S. 3504, The Native 

American Education Act of 2012, which is the subject of this hearing. 

INCREASING PARTNERSHIPS WITH STATES, TRIBES AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO

IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

This Administration has taken great strides to support self-determination and to 

strengthen and honor the Federal Government’s government-to-government relationships with Tribal Nations. At the White House Tribal Nations Conference on 

December 2, 2011, President Obama, joined by Cabinet Secretaries and other senior 

Administration officials, met with tribal leaders from federally recognized Tribes for 

the third consecutive year to continue to enhance these relationships. In reaffirming 

the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure that Tribal Nations are full partners with the Federal family, the President announced the signing of Executive 

Order No. 13592 entitled, ‘‘Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities.’’ As 

President Obama said, ‘‘We have to prepare the next generation for the future.’’ 

The mission and function of the White House Initiative on American Indian and 

Alaska Native Education is to expand educational opportunities and improve educational outcomes for AI/AN students. This includes helping to ensure that AI/AN 

students have opportunities to learn their Native languages, cultures and histories, 
6 

1http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr10-19.pdf. 2http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicatorlpgr.asp#info. 

and receive a complete and competitive education that prepares them for college, a 

career, and productive and satisfying lives. 

Specifically, the Initiative works with Federal agencies, States, Tribes, and the 

private sector to advance these goals. With respect to post-secondary education, the 

Initiative works to implement strategies to promote the expanded implementation 

of education reforms that have shown evidence of success in enabling AI/AN students to acquire a rigorous and well-rounded education; increase access to the support services that prepare them for college, careers, and civic involvement; reduce 

the student dropout rate and help more students who stay in high school prepare 

for college and careers; increase college access and completion by strengthening the 

capacity of post-secondary institutions, including Tribal Colleges and Universities 

(TCUs); and help ensure that the unique cultural, educational, and language needs 

of AI/AN students are met. 

AMERICAN INDIANS/ALASKA NATIVES AND HIGHER EDUCATION

We need to do better when it comes to meeting the academic and cultural needs 

of our American Indian and Alaska Native students across the Nation. AI/AN young 

adults lag behind their white peers in employment and educational attainment. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in 2010, white 

young adults ages 16–24 had the lowest rate of unemployment, while AI/AN young 

adults had the highest. 

According to 2010 U.S. Census data, about 30 percent of all youth and adults in 

the general population held baccalaureate degrees, compared with just 13 percent 

of the AI/AN youth and adults.1 And, while across all degree granting institutions, 

AI/AN undergraduate enrollment increased from 70,000 to 189,000 students from 

1976 to 2009, these students still accounted for only 1 percent of the total undergraduate enrollment during those years. AI/AN students entering post-secondary 

education also lag behind all students in timely completion of both baccalaureate 

degrees and certificates or associates degrees at 2-year degree granting institutions.2 These statistics make clear that more must be done to expand opportunities 

and improve outcomes for AI/AN students. 

In order to meet President Obama’s goal for college attainment, there will need 

to be an additional 112,000 AI/AN students completing college by the year 2020. 

Working together to support TCUs is important in achieving this goal. 

Our Nation’s 37 tribally controlled TCUs, which serve approximately 33,000 students, and whose student body is at least 50 percent AI/AN students, fulfill a unique 

role in AI/AN communities by acting as safeguards and champions of tribal languages and cultures. TCUs are also public institutions and they provide high-quality 

education and career-building opportunities to students of all ages, while also serving as a catalyst for economic development on reservations. 

It’s also important to note that more than 90 percent of AI/AN post-secondary students attend institutions of higher education that are not tribally controlled. These 

include Native American Serving Non-Tribally Controlled Institutions (NASNTCIs), 

where the student body is at least 10 percent AI/AN students, but where there are 

few opportunities for collaboration between Tribes and States. 

In addition to providing a high-quality education and career-building opportunities for AI/AN students, NASNTCIs are working to improve and expand their capacity to serve AI/AN and low-income individuals by engaging in such activities as: expanding dual enrollment opportunities for AI/AN students; assisting institutions in 

the development of adult education that increases the number of AI/AN students 

who obtain high school diplomas; improving academic and student services to support student success and retention of AI/AN students; improving the effective use 

of technology in academic environments; and increasing the number of AI/AN students who pursue advanced degrees. 

Together, TCUs and NASNTCIs have a far-reaching impact in the communities 

they serve. For example, these institutions provide effective paths to academic 

achievement and degree completion for AI/AN students that can mitigate the risks 

of high poverty and unemployment that follow low educational attainment. Also, 

these institutions often serve as powerful engines of economic development in their 

communities, contributing employment, raising incomes, and directly and indirectly 

supporting other forms of economic development within Tribal communities. Because many of these communities tend to be located in rural and underserved communities compared to colleges and universities in the United States overall, this 

contribution is especially vital. 
7 

THE ROLE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The Federal Government plays an important role in improving the post-secondary 

education attainment of AI/AN students, not only because these students face barriers to achievement and persistence in post-secondary education, but also because 

the Federal Government has a trust responsibility to help these students succeed. 

Through the Race to the Top: College Affordability and Completion (RTTCAC) and 

First in the World (FITW) proposals, the Administration has offered a comprehensive approach to tackle the rising costs of college for all students, including AI/AN 

students. The Federal Government, States, and Institutions of Higher Education 

have a shared responsibility in this endeavor and must work together to address 

the college affordability and completion challenge. 

In addition, the Administration has worked with Congress to take a number of 

steps over the last 3 years to address the challenge of helping to keep college affordable and accessible for all students, including AI/AN students: 

• We have invested more than $40 billion in Pell grants, extending aid to 3 million more college students for a total of over 9 million recipients and raised the maximum award to an estimated $5,635 for the 2013–14 academic year. This represents 

a $905 increase in the maximum award since 2008. 

• We are working to make college loans more affordable through the ‘‘Pay as You 

Earn’’ proposal, which will enable an additional 1.6 million students to take advantage of a new option to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of a borrower’s 

monthly income starting as early as this year. 

• We have created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides up to 

$10,000 for up to 4 years of education and includes benefits for low-income individuals with no tax liability. Eleven million middle class and low-income families 

claimed the credit in tax year 2010. 

This historic investment in student aid has kept the price that families actually 

pay for college—the net price—essentially flat over the last few years. Thanks to 

our Federal investments, the College Board reports that the net price of tuition and 

fees at 4-year public institutions has increased by just $170 since the 2006–7 academic year, while the net price of tuition and fees at community colleges has actually decreased over the same period. 

Yet this Federal Government commitment to post-secondary education of AI/AN 

students cannot be limited only to the work of the Administration. We need a strong 

partnership with Congress if we are going to improve college participation and outcomes. So thank you Senator Bennet and the other members of the HELP Committee for holding this hearing. 

Of course, the Federal Government cannot singlehandedly ensure college affordability. The Administration, Congress, post-secondary institutions, and, States must 

all work together to keep building on our momentum in recent years to make an 

affordable college education accessible and available to all students who want one, 

and where appropriate, to continue support of historical obligations to fund that 

education for certain populations like AI/AN students. 

Thousands of AI/AN individuals and students around the country benefit from 

this continued demonstration of commitment and are appreciative of States that 

continue to uphold their obligations. These individuals are contributing not only to 

their Tribes, but also directly to the strength and well-being of the States in which 

they reside and to the Nation as a whole. At a time when higher education is more 

important than ever for our shared future, States should not turn to higher education budgets as a source for cuts. Such cuts often lead to tuition spikes and higher 

drop-out rates, particularly for vulnerable populations like AI/AN students. This Administration has made a strong commitment to upholding the United States’ trust 

responsibility toward Tribes and is committed to doing our part. 

CONCLUSION

I look forward to working with you and this committee on this and other vitally 

important issues facing the AI/AN community. Thank you for your time and I would 

be happy to respond to any questions you may have. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you, Mr. Mendoza. I’m going to turn to 

the Lieutenant Governor, and then I’ll have questions for both of 

you. Thank you so much for being here. 
8 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH A. GARCIA, LIEUTENANT 

GOVERNOR, STATE OF COLORADO, DENVER, CO 

Mr. GARCIA. Good morning, Senator, and thank you for the invitation to attend today’s hearing and to speak in support of the Native American Education Act of 2012. I really want to thank you 

and your staff for recognizing the important responsibility that 

both our Federal and State leaders have in continuing to secure access for American Indians and Alaska Natives to high-quality educational opportunities at institutions of higher education. 

I want to say that I agree with Mr. Mendoza’s earlier comments 

that all of us at the Federal and State levels must do a better job 

of meeting the academic and cultural needs of our American Indian 

and Alaska Native students. We must continue to work together to 

make a college education affordable and accessible to all students, 

particularly those from underserved and low-income communities. 

Now, the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College have continued to meet for many decades now and to exceed the provisions of 

a unique historical agreement that enables a growing population of 

American Indian and Alaska Native students to obtain a postsecondary credential. We celebrate the success of the Fort Lewis 

Native American Scholarship Program and Fort Lewis College, 

which provides an exemplary education program as one of only a 

handful of Native American-Serving Non-Tribal colleges in the 

United States. 

Now, as you can see from the letters of support submitted by 

Governor Hickenlooper and by Hereford Percy, the Chairman of the 

Colorado Commission of Higher Education, the State of Colorado is 

deeply committed to fulfilling the intent and spirit of this agreement. And along with you, we want to move forward in the best 

interest of the citizens of the State and the American Indian and 

Alaska Native students the program is meant to serve. 

It is important to briefly note the historical context under which 

the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship was made. As you can 

see in greater detail from my letter, supported along with the testimony, the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Program has 

roots that go back to 1878, when Fort Lewis, an Army outpost, was 

first established. And in 1891, Fort Lewis became a Federal Indian 

primary and secondary school for American Indian students in the 

nearby region. 

In 1911, however, the Federal Government transferred that land 

to Colorado, and Colorado, as part of that transfer agreement, 

agreed to maintain the school—again, at the time, a primary and 

secondary school—as a place of learning that Indians could attend 

free of charge. Now, by 1927, the school evolved from a primary 

and secondary school into a junior college, and by the mid-1960s, 

the school offered 4-year degrees. Today, Fort Lewis serves as a 

public liberal arts college with selective admission standards with 

a historic and continuing commitment to American Indian education. 

Now, I want to emphasize that no one in Colorado wants to see 

access for American students limited in any way. This proposed 

legislation is focused on securing, not limiting, tuition-free access 

to Fort Lewis College for American Indian and Alaska Native students. American Indian students are entitled to this education, 
9 

which is not only of individual benefit to them, but also, as Mr. 

Mendoza’s testimony pointed out, a benefit to the State and to the 

country as a whole. 

Truly national in scope, the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Program provided tuition waivers, as you noted, for over 

16,000 students from 46 States and 269 tribes just over the past 

11 years alone, and far more as we look back over the many decades of its history. But it’s also important to note that more than 

84 percent of those Native American students who received tuition 

waivers were not from Colorado. This is not a State program, but 

a Federal one, a national program with national benefits and national implications. 

Now, based on the requirements in State law pursuant to the 

agreement, Colorado has been funding these obligations, which are 

growing at an ever-increasing rate, during a period when State resources for public higher education have been diminishing. Just 

since 2008–9, that fiscal year alone, public higher education operating funding in Colorado has decreased by over 27 percent while 

at the same time we’ve seen enrollment growth of over 14 percent, 

with the net result being a 36 percent decrease in State funding 

per resident student. 

Now, the Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver 

has also grown steadily over time, and the annual increases are becoming greater and greater on a year-to-year basis. The tremendous growth in the program is both good news, but it also creates 

challenges for the State. The good news is that Fort Lewis has 

demonstrated success in serving American Indian students from all 

regions of the country. 

Of the American Indian student population attending Fort Lewis 

College, as I said earlier, about 84 percent were from outside of 

Colorado. But because of the differences in tuition and non-resident 

tuition, they represent over 95 percent of the dollars spent to support the program. That’s $12.8 million in total scholarship fund allotment that goes to non-Colorado residents. 

Now, the State of Colorado would like your partnership in continuing to deliver higher education opportunities to American Indian youth. And it’s critically important to understand where the 

approximately $13 million that supports the program now comes 

from. It’s not part of a separate pot of money that’s allocated specifically to the Native American Scholarship Fund. Rather, it is 

part of the entire State financial aid program. Out of that pot, the 

Native American Scholarship Fund comes off the top. 

So an escalating cost of that program has been covered by reducing funding to the State’s other financial aid programs, including 

need-based grants and work-study programs. So using State financial aid funds to cover rising costs for the Fort Lewis Native American tuition waiver program has a demonstrable impact on American Indian students throughout Colorado. 

Now, while over 800 American Indian and Alaska Native students attend Fort Lewis College, there are actually about 3,000 Native American students attending public institutions in Colorado. 

So about 30 percent of the total attend Fort Lewis College. The 

other 70 percent receive no benefit from this program. In fact, 
10 

they’re impacted by the program because of the reduction in the 

amount of financial aid available to support them. 

Now, the special and distinct circumstances that confront us 

today have been created by the evolution of a 100-year-old mission. 

That mission charged Colorado to provide students admitted to the 

Indian reservation school or high school with an education free of 

charge of tuition and on equal terms with white students. 

It’s important, again, to note that we do not want to limit access 

to Native American students at Fort Lewis or at any other institution of higher education in Colorado or nationally. And, in fact, 

while we’re asking for Federal support to fund that mission, while 

serving thousands of other students, including Native American 

students at other State higher education institutions, we’re steadfast in our commitment to securing educational opportunities for 

Native American students in our great State. 

So I’m here to commend the great work of Fort Lewis College’s 

administration, the leadership shown by its governing board and by 

its president, Dene Thomas, along with the staff and students at 

Fort Lewis College in making this historical agreement an educational priority. With the passage of the Native American Education Act of 2012, Colorado will be able to continue its commitment to the successful national program while also providing higher education opportunities for all students across Colorado. 

Again, I want to thank you for allowing me the honor of speaking 

to you today. I appreciate your support of this legislation, and I 

would be glad to answer any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia follows:] 

STATE OF COLORADO, 

OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, 

DENVER, CO 80203, 

August 17, 2012. 

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS, 

U.S. Senate, 

Congressional Field Hearing, 

Old Supreme Court Chambers, 

Colorado State Capitol, 

Denver, CO 80203. 

SUMMARY

DEAR SENATOR BENNET AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Here is a brief overview of my 

testimony in support of The Native American Education Act of 2012, S. 3504: 

• Welcome. 

• Support statement for the Native American Education Act of 2012, S. 3504. 

• Introduction of Letters of Support. 

• Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Fund background and historic agreement with the State of Colorado. 

• Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Fund funding and enrollment data. 

• The great work of Fort Lewis College and continued support of securing secure 

access for American Indians /Alaska Natives to high quality educational opportunities at institutions of higher education. 

• Closing and questions. 

Sincerely, 

JOSEPH A. GARCIA, 

Lieutenant Governor. 
11 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH A. GARCIA

Dear Senator Bennet and committee members, good morning and thank you for 

the invitation to attend today’s hearing and speak in support of the proposed the 

Native American Education Act of 2012, S. 3504. I would especially like to thank 

Senator Bennet and staff for recognizing the important responsibility that both our 

Federal and State leaders have in continuing to secure access for American Indians 

/Alaska Natives to high quality educational opportunities at institutions of higher 

education. 

Attached to my testimony this morning, you will find support letters from Governor John Hickenlooper and the Colorado Commission of Higher Education Chairman Hereford Percy, representing the Colorado Department of Higher Education. As 

Lieutenant Governor, I also serve as Chairman of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs and last year the Commission submitted a letter of support for then 

S. 484 which is also included in your packet today. 

[The letters referenced above may be found in additional material.] 

The State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College have continued to meet and exceed 

the provisions of a unique historical agreement that enables a growing population 

of American Indian/Alaska Native students to attain a post-secondary credential. 

We celebrate both the success of the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Fund 

and this college, which provides an exemplary education program as one of only a 

handful of Native American-Serving Non-Tribal Colleges in the United States. Governor Hickenlooper and I are deeply committed to fulfilling the intent and spirit of 

this agreement, and along with you, want to move forward in the best interests of 

the citizens, the State, and the American Indians/Alaska Native students the program is meant to serve. 

It is important to understand the historical context under which this agreement 

was reached. The original Fort Lewis was established as a U.S. Army post in 1878 

in Pagosa Springs, CO. In 1882, the Fort Lewis Military Reservation was set aside 

by the Federal Government for an Indian Reservation School and moved to 

Hesperus, CO just west of Durango, CO. 

Over a decade following its original creation as a military outpost, in 1891 Fort 

Lewis became a Federal Indian primary and secondary school where American Indian students from the surrounding regions attended. By 1911, the Federal Government offered the Fort Lewis land to the State of Colorado. The transfer stipulated 

that: 

(1) ‘‘. . . said lands and building shall be held and maintained by the State of 

Colorado as an institution of learning’’; and 

(2) ‘‘. . . that Indian pupils shall at all times be admitted to such school free 

of charge of tuition and on equal terms’’. 

At the time of the transfer in 1911, the School of Agricultural and Mechanical 

Arts and Household Arts was created as a high school ending in the 12th grade. 

By 1927, the school evolved into a junior college and by the early to mid-1960s the 

school offered 4-year degrees and officially retained its current moniker of Fort 

Lewis College. 

Today, Fort Lewis College serves as a public liberal arts college with selective admission standards with a historic and continuing commitment to American Indian 

education. Truly national in scope, the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship 

Fund provided tuition waivers for 16,408 students from 46 States and 269 tribes 

over the past 11 years. More than 84 percent of these American Indian/Alaska Native students who received tuition waivers were not from Colorado. 

Colorado statute requires: 

‘‘that all qualified Indian pupils shall at all times be admitted to such college 

free of charge for tuition and on terms of equity with other pupils. The general 

assembly shall appropriate from the State general fund one hundred percent of 

the moneys required for tuition for such qualified Indian pupils.’’—Section 23- 

52-10 (1)(b)(I), C.R.S. (2012) 

Based on the requirements in State law pursuant to the agreement associated 

with the original transfer of the Fort Lewis lands, Colorado has been funding these 

obligations which are growing at an ever-increasing rate during a period when State 

resources for public higher education have been diminishing. Since the State fiscal 

year 2008–9, public higher education operating funding in Colorado has decreased 

by over 27 percent. Over this same timeframe the State has experienced resident 

enrollment growth of over 14 percent systemwide. The net result is over a 36 percent decrease in State funding per resident student. 
12 

The Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver has grown steadily over 

time and the annual increases are becoming greater and greater on a year-to-year 

basis. Figure 1 illustrates the cost to the State since fiscal year 2008–9. 

FIGURE 1

The tremendous growth in the program is in part due to Fort Lewis College’s success in serving American Indian students from all regions of the country. The most 

recent projections suggest an increase of over $2 million going into fiscal year 2013– 

14, which is primarily a result of double-digit enrollment increases in the Native 

American student population. Of the American Indian student population attending 

Fort Lewis College, approximately 95 percent of the $12.8 million scholarship fund 

total allotment is paid on behalf of non-Colorado residents. 

The State of Colorado asks for your partnership in continuing to deliver higher 

education opportunities to American Indian youth. Given the State’s budgetary challenges, this cost has been covered by reducing funding to the State’s other financial 

aid programs (Need-Based Grants and/or Work Study). Using State financial aid 

funds to cover changes in costs for the Fort Lewis Native American Tuition Waiver 

program has a demonstrable impact on American Indian students throughout Colorado. Approximately 3,000 American Indian/Alaska Native students attend public 

institution in Colorado. Consequently, reductions in the State’s need-based financial 

aid program reduce access to State financial assistance for low-income students at 

every institution in the State, including American Indian/Alaska Native students 

enrolled at institutions other than Fort Lewis College. In spite of this, Colorado 

stands by its commitment to the Fort Lewis Native American Tuition Waiver program and plans to continue funding tuition for all qualifying students beyond the 

Federal contribution. 

The special and distinct circumstance that confronts us today has been created 

by the evolution of a 100-year-old mission. That mission charged Colorado to provide 

students admitted to the Indian Reservation School—a high school—with an education free of charge of tuition and on equal terms. While we are challenged to fund 

that mission while serving thousands of other students (including Native American 

students) at other State higher education institutions, we are no less steadfast in 

our commitment to securing educational opportunities for Native American students 

in our great State. 

I am here to offer our full support for The Native American Education Act of 2012 

and to commend the great work of Fort Lewis College’s administration, staff, and 

students by making this historical agreement an educational priority. With the passage of this legislation, Colorado can continue our commitment to this successful national education program while also providing higher education opportunities for all 

students across Colorado. 
13 

Again, thank you for allowing me this honor of speaking before you today. I would 

be glad to answer any questions you may have. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you very 

much for being here. 

I can’t resist, Mr. Mendoza, since you’re here and since you are 

a graduate of Fort Lewis—but I wanted to have the chance for you 

to put in the record what that education has meant to you, personally, and how it prepared you to now be working in the White 

House at the level that you’re working. I think it’s important for 

the students that are there to hear that. 

Mr. MENDOZA. I appreciate the opportunity, Senator Bennet, and 

I couldn’t agree more with the sentiments that are expressed in 

your comments and Lieutenant Governor Garcia’s just about the 

brevity of what Fort Lewis does for this country in terms of American Indian and Alaska Native students, in particular. My personal 

journey to a respect and understanding of how education can be 

successful for me was one that was a bumpy road and involved numerous institutions of higher education, numerous supports from 

every step of the way, and then, certainly, challenges as well. 

Fort Lewis, for me—quite frankly, I wouldn’t be in the position 

that I am to be able to impact the needs of not only my family, but 

those who I also hold near and dear, my people, and, of course, the 

States and the country to which I hold allegiance to and value very 

much. My experiences there at Fort Lewis College, I think upon 

often. Particularly, because of this context, I really think that it is 

the best representative effort in the country of these types of 

schools, whether we are talking about Minnesota Morris, Fort 

Lewis College, or our Native American-Serving Non-Tribally Controlled institutions, where we really see States vesting an interest. 

And, whether it’s the sacred trust, as it is referred to at Fort 

Lewis College, or a contractual obligation, or the trust responsibility, as we see it through the Federal lands, where—and I think 

I can only express it in that old saying that you always hear, where 

you tell me where you put your money, and I’ll tell you what you 

prioritize. What drew me to Fort Lewis was that I would be in an 

environment where I could engage with students that I knew, instantaneously, either didn’t agree with me or didn’t know anything 

about me and the communities that I came from. 

It was especially humbling when I got there to know that the 

State of Colorado invested in that, that the institution itself fought 

for my presence there. How I was interacting with that system 

gave me, all the much more, empowerment to say there are bigger 

answers to some of these tough issues, whether we’re facing them 

on reservations or off reservations. 

So it couldn’t be more important than that to me. And being here 

today, in a way that I can share what we hope for in protecting 

opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Native students and 

how we need to all be working together to be thinking innovatively 

to address these times of austerity—I’m committed to do that. I 

have a value in that, knowing what these degrees and what these 

efforts mean to communities like my home village of Pine Ridge 

and Rosebud. Those are the communities that I grew up in. 
14 

And we need choices. We need appropriate institutions where we 

can have a diverse array of offerings for us to have access to. And 

Fort Lewis represented that for me as a student. 

Senator BENNET. That gives me an opportunity to actually ask 

the first question that I had for you. Since you’ve already answered 

it, I’ll ask you as a representative of the White House to commit 

to work with us to ensure that these waiver programs are sustainable with an equitable funding stream between both the Federal 

and State governments. 

Mr. MENDOZA. We certainly support the principles of this bill, 

Senator, and we want to do everything in our power to make sure 

that we’re all putting our hands together to ensure that. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you. The last question that I had for 

you—you talked about this in the context of the trust responsibility 

that we have, which I think is enormously important. That’s really 

what brings us here today, to find a way to make sure that we can 

sustain this commitment that’s been made. 

And I wonder, in that context of the trust responsibility, if you 

could talk about just how important the tuition waiver program 

has been to increasing educational opportunities for Native American students in this country. 

Mr. MENDOZA. I appreciate it, Senator. And I think our next 

speaker, President Thomas, certainly can speak to the contributions directly and the statistics that places them, if my memory 

serves me correctly, fourth in the Nation in terms of enrollment 

and certainly one of our highest degree producers for American Indian and Alaska Native students. There is not enough of this universe of institutions that we refer to as Native American-Serving 

from the Department of Education standpoint. 

So in every area where those have the potential of being supported, we want to be working with them to say: What are your 

challenges? What are your successes? And how can we bring more 

resources, whether it’s through the tribal context, the State context, or the Federal context, to help address the unanimously 

agreed challenges facing our higher education institutions? 

Senator BENNET. I said that was my last question. But here’s one 

more, and then I will stop. You talked a little bit in your opening 

remarks about the challenges that are facing our Native American 

youth in K–12 education as well. And as a former school superintendent, I know very well the challenges of getting children, particularly those living in poverty, prepared to go to college and then 

to persist once they’re in college. 

I wonder if you could say a word about what the Administration’s 

initiatives are around K–12 education for Native American youth 

and what we can be doing better to support those efforts. 

Mr. MENDOZA. I appreciate it, Senator. And, certainly, we are 

working to create pathways. We are transitioning Indian education 

from working from silo approaches to whether or not we are looking at that from the tribal college lens or the Native AmericanServing Non-Tribal college lens or the Bureau of Indian Education 

system and their unique institutions. 

We are trying to connect the dots with that, utilizing a lot of the 

levers that are in place with the Administration, a lot of the bridge 

programs expressed through TRiO and Gear Up and our Aid for In-
15 

stitutional Development programs. We have a first in the world 

program that we want to put forth to support our minority-serving 

institutions—$20 million of that $55 million program will go toward these institutions really thinking innovatively about how they 

can buildupon and scope and scale best practices, promising practices, if you will, to be able to address the unique needs of these 

students, in particular, American Indian and Alaska Native students. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you. 

Mr. Lieutenant Governor, can you talk a little bit broadly about 

what the state of the higher education budget is in Colorado and 

what you’re doing to try to manage in a very challenging environment? 

Mr. GARCIA. Yes, Senator. As I said before, we know that the 

general fund money available for higher education has been diminishing over the last several years. And it’s come at a very bad time, 

a time when we are encouraging more and more young people to 

go on to post-secondary education. The good news is that they are, 

but, again, the bad news is there are fewer dollars to support them. 

We’ve been working with institutions to emphasize the importance of creating efficiencies. The institutions have done a remarkable job of doing exactly that. Colorado has the most efficient system of public higher education in the country when you look at the 

number of degrees produced per dollar invested. Our institutions 

are stretched thin and are doing a very good job. 

We also try to emphasize the importance of completion, not just 

enrollment. We know that with certain populations, like the native 

population, that’s a bigger challenge. They often arrive academically underprepared and under-resourced financially, and so it 

takes more effort and more investment by the institutions to serve 

those students who we most need to serve. After all, minority and 

low-income students are the fastest growing demographic in our 

both K–12 and higher education systems. We’ve seen a reduction—over $706 million of general fund money 

invested in higher education only 4 or 5 years ago. That’s down to 

a little more than $500 million now. So, again, we try to look for 

alternative ways to deliver instruction. We’re trying to look for increased efficiencies. But we don’t want to impact quality, and we 

don’t want to impact output. We don’t want to impact our ability 

to actually help these students graduate. That’s our challenge right 

now. 

And as we look at a reduction in the amount of financial aid 

available, which is where the Native American Scholarship dollars 

come from, because we’re trying to serve more students, more 

needy students, with fewer dollars, we need the partnership with 

the Federal Government to help us ensure that we can provide access for all students. 

Senator BENNET. And could you say a little bit about why you 

think it’s appropriate, in the context of the facts that you talked 

about in your opening statement, that the Federal Government 

should provide funding for this program? 

Mr. GARCIA. Absolutely, Senator. When the program was first established, as I said, it was focused on a primary and secondary 

school that served Native American students from this region. Of 
16 

course, now it is a 4-year, high-quality academic institution offering 

baccalaureate degrees. Over 80 percent of the students it is serving 

come from outside of Colorado, and over 95 percent of the cost goes 

to fund those out-of-state students. 

Those out-of-state students come and get a great education, and 

they return to their communities, including tribal lands, where 

they make an impact, an enormous impact, in their communities. 

That benefits those communities. That benefits the country. And 

we think for that reason the Federal Government ought to help us 

maintain this program, that we ought to be able to cover the increasing cost with the help of the Federal Government, because the 

work of Fort Lewis College, the work of the Fort Lewis Native 

American Scholarship program doesn’t just impact Colorado. It has 

a tremendous impact on the rest of the country. 

Senator BENNET. And is it your understanding—it is my understanding, anyway, that this legislation says that if the Congress 

were to pass this legislation, were to fund this program, and in the 

future change its mind and decide not to do it, that the State’s responsibility to fulfill the agreement that was made remains intact. 

Mr. GARCIA. That’s absolutely correct, Senator. The State’s obligation would continue. If we were able to get some additional funding through this legislation, it would simply help relieve the burden. But the State is committed to this program. The State, in my 

view, has a legal obligation to continue this program. We’re simply 

asking for some financial assistance. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you. I appreciate your testimony very 

much. I’m sure everybody that’s here today does. Now we’ll move 

on to the second panel. Thank you for being here. We’ll take a 

minute to shift. 

I wish I could say that every committee hearing in Washington, 

DC moves as expeditiously as this one, but I can’t. So I’d like to 

thank the second panel for joining us here today, and we’ll try to 

keep opening remarks to about 5 minutes. I’m going to introduce 

each of you, and then we’ll get going. 

Dr. Dene Kay Thomas is the current president of Fort Lewis College. Dr. Thomas taught writing at the University of Idaho and 

was the president of Lewis-Clark State College. In 2010, she was 

selected to be the first woman to ever serve as president of Fort 

Lewis College. 

We’re delighted to have you today. 

Dr. Jacqueline Johnson is the Chancellor of the University of 

Minnesota Morris. She is also the first woman to serve in this role. 

Dr. Johnson was appointed Chancellor in 2006 after serving in various positions in a number of universities. Those include serving as 

chief academic officer at St. Martin’s College and vice president for 

Academic Affairs and dean of faculty at Buena Vista University. 

Thank you so much for making the trip here today. 

John Echohawk is the executive director of the Native American 

Rights Fund. John Echohawk is a member of the Pawnee Nation 

of Oklahoma and has served as the executive director of the Native 

American Rights Fund for over 30 years. Mr. Echohawk began his 

law career when he was the first graduate of the University of New 

Mexico’s program to train Indian lawyers. He has since been recog-
17 

nized as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the 

National Law Journal. 

I want to welcome you back to Colorado. We’re delighted that 

you’re here. 

Byron Tsabetsaye is the president of the Associated Students of 

Fort Lewis College. He is a member of both the Navajo and the 

Zuni Pueblo tribes. He is also a member of both the Native American Honor Society and the National Society of Leadership and 

Success. 

Thank you all for being here. 

Dr. Thomas, would you like to kick it off? Then we’ll go down the 

line here and then have some questions. 

STATEMENT OF DENE KAY THOMAS, Ph.D., PRESIDENT, FORT 

LEWIS COLLEGE, DURANGO, CO 

Ms. THOMAS. I would, indeed. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. 

I will take us back to 1911, January 25th, when Governor John 

Shafroth signed a contract with the Federal Government which 

transferred 6,279 acres in southwest Colorado to the State of Colorado to be maintained as an institution of learning to which Indian 

students will be admitted free of tuition and on an equality with 

white students in perpetuity. That free tuition has benefited numerous Native American students from 46 States and 269 federally 

recognized Indian tribes and has, in turn, benefited the State of 

Colorado and the entire Nation through its investment in human 

capital. 

No one could have foreseen the national impact such an agreement would have on all concerned. New Mexico and Arizona were 

territories that had not entered statehood. Modern transportation 

made this once isolated military fort easily accessible and centrally 

located in the heart of Indian country. 

We now have a situation where what is of benefit to many is of 

cost to only one. Colorado benefits, but even more, the country benefits as societal benefits accrue from becoming more educated, productive, taxpaying citizens. Given the national benefits and the 100 

years of support only from Colorado, it is time for the Nation to 

support what has become an unintended unfunded Federal mandate. We now have an issue of fairness. It is only fair for the Federal Government to support Senate bill 3504 and Senate bill 484. 

This sense of fairness is shared by many national Native American organizations, the National Congress of the American Indian, 

NIGA, NARF, and every tribe that we have visited with about it— 

Navajo, Mescalero Apache, Cherokee, the Tri-Utes. I would note 

that S. 3504 does not either now or in the future restrict or cap the 

number of Native American students, either Colorado residents or 

non-Colorado residents, who can attend Fort Lewis College and receive the waiver. All Native American students from federally recognized tribes would continue to attend tuition free. 

Fort Lewis College owns its dual mission of Colorado’s only public liberal arts college and its historic Native American education 

mission with pride. We are now a college of 23 percent Native 

American students from 138 tribes and 45 States. Our 860 Native 

American students benefit, and the rich cultural diversity benefits 

everyone at Fort Lewis College and in the Durango community. 
18 

We rank fourth in the Nation in the percent of full-time Native 

American undergraduates enrolled in a baccalaureate institution. 

Almost half of Fort Lewis College Native students are from the 

Navajo nation, the second largest tribe in the United States, located 84 miles from campus, and 11 percent are from Native Alaskan tribes. 

Fort Lewis College awards more bachelor’s degrees to Native 

American and Alaska Native students than any other baccalaureate institution in the Nation. From 2006 to 2010, Fort Lewis 

College awarded over 10 percent of the total number of baccalaureate degrees earned by Native American students in the 

United States. 

The college’s tuition waiver provides access and opportunity to 

the most underserved minority population, as less than 1 percent— 

actually, it’s 0.7 percent—of American Indians attain a baccalaureate degree annually. That’s compared with all other minorities—African-American, 8.9 percent; Hispanic, 7.5 percent; Asian 

American, 6.6 percent. 

The educational attainment rate for Native American students is 

widening as bachelor’s degrees conferred by other ethnicities has 

increased while the bachelor’s degrees for Native Americans has remained flat at 0.7 percent. The Federal Government has provided 

much more assistance for far greater a time period to Hispanicserving institutions and historically Black institutions. 

Aside from tribal colleges, there is only a $5 million Federal allocation annually that was created in fiscal year 2008–9 to support 

Native American students outside of tribal colleges through the Native American-Serving Non-Tribal College discretionary funds at 

the U.S. Department of Education. We are one of a small number 

of the Native American-Serving Non-Tribal Colleges who focus on 

bachelor degree attainment for Native American students. And we 

are one of only two with historic mandates that date back to the 

days after the Indian wars. 

We believe in our mission to educate Native American students, 

and we do it well. We have a number of partnerships with other 

groups, both community colleges for seamless transfer, with the 

Navajo nation, and a number of the other connections that we 

make to continue from the 2-year to a 4-year education. 

We have a scope of a program that has far exceeded the expectations set forth in the 1910 agreement between the State of Colorado and the Federal Government, and it would be a travesty to 

be unable to provide a broader base of support for what is a successful State and national program. 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to appear before 

you today, and I stand ready to answer any questions you may 

have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Thomas follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DENE KAY THOMAS, PH.D. 

SUMMARY

On January 25, 1911, Governor John Shafroth signed a contract with the Federal 

Government which transferred 6,279 acres in southwest Colorado to the State of 

Colorado ‘‘to be maintained as an institution of learning to which Indian students 

will be admitted free of tuition and on an equality with white students’’ in per-
19 

1 American Indian Science & Engineering Society, 2012. 

2Kim, Young, ‘‘Minorities in Higher Education,’’ Twenty-Fourth Status Report, 2011 Supplement, American Council on Education, October 2011. 

petuity (Act of 61st Congress, 1911). That free tuition has benefited Native American students from 46 States and 269 federally recognized Indian tribes. 

No one could have foreseen the national impact such an agreement would have 

on all concerned. Modern transportation made this once isolated military fort easily 

accessible and centrally located in the heart of Indian Country. We now have a situation where what is of benefit to many is of a cost to only one. Given the national 

benefits and the hundred years of support from only Colorado, it is time for the Nation to support what has become an unintended unfunded Federal mandate. We now 

have an issue of fairness. 

Fort Lewis College ranks 4th in the Nation in the percent of full-time Native 

American undergraduates enrolled in a baccalaureate institution.1 Almost half of 

FLC Native students are from the Navajo Nation (second largest tribe in the United 

States), located 84 miles from campus, and 11 percent are from Native Alaskan 

tribes. FLC awards more degrees to Native American/Alaskan Native students than 

any other baccalaureate institution in the Nation. From 2006–10, Fort Lewis College awarded over 10 percent (556) of the total number of baccalaureate degrees 

earned by Native American students in the United States. In 2010, FLC was 1st 

in the Nation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) baccalaureate 

degrees earned by Native Americans. 

The College’s tuition waiver provides access and opportunity to the most underserved minority population in higher education, as less than 1 percent (0.7 percent) 

of American Indians attain a baccalaureate degree annually.2 We believe in our mission to educate Native American students and we do it well. Together, by supporting 

S. 3504, we have an opportunity to provide a quality educational experience for Native American students, so that they too can compete in the global market place and 

carry the hopes and dreams of their nation, and ours, into prosperity. 

Good Morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Dr. 

Dene Thomas, president of Fort Lewis College. On January 25, 1911, Governor John 

Shafroth signed a contract with the Federal Government which transferred 6,279 

acres in southwest Colorado to the State of Colorado ‘‘to be maintained as an institution of learning to which Indian students will be admitted free of tuition and on 

an equality with white students’’ in perpetuity (Act of 61st Congress, 1911). That 

free tuition has benefited numerous Native American students from 46 States and 

269 federally recognized Indian tribes, and has in turn, benefited the State of Colorado and the Nation through an investment in human capital. 

No one could have foreseen the national impact such an agreement would have 

on all concerned. New Mexico and Arizona were territories that had not entered 

statehood. Modern transportation made this once isolated military fort easily accessible and centrally located in the heart of Indian Country. We now have a situation 

where what is of benefit to many is of a cost to only one. Colorado benefits, but even 

more, the country benefits, as societal benefits accrue from becoming more educated 

productive taxpaying citizens. Given the national benefits and the hundred years of 

support from only Colorado, it is time for the Nation to support what has become 

an unintended unfunded Federal mandate. We now have an issue of fairness. It is 

only fair for the Federal Government to support Senate bill 3504 and S. 484. 

FLC owns its dual mission of Colorado’s only public liberal arts college and historic Native American education mission with pride. We are now a college of 23 percent Native American students from 138 tribes and 45 States. Our 860 Native 

American students benefit and the rich cultural diversity also benefit everyone at 

FLC and the Durango community. FLC ranks 4th in the Nation in the percent of 

full-time Native American undergraduates enrolled in a baccalaureate institution 

(American Indian Science & Engineering Society, 2012). Almost half of FLC Native 

students are from the Navajo Nation (second largest tribe in the United States), located 84 miles from campus, and 11 percent are from Native Alaskan tribes. FLC 

awards more degrees to Native American/Alaskan Native students than any other 

baccalaureate institution in the Nation. From 2006–10, Fort Lewis College awarded 

over 10 percent (556) of the total number of baccalaureate degrees earned by Native 

American students in the United States. In 2010, FLC was 1st in the Nation in 

STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) degrees earned by Native Americans. 

The College’s tuition waiver provides access and opportunity to the most underserved minority population, as less than 1 percent (0.7 percent) of American Indians 
20 

3 IBID. 

attain a baccalaureate degree annually, as compared to all other minorities (AfricanAmerican (8.9 percent), Hispanic (7.5 percent), and Asian American (6.6 percent) in 

the past 10 years.2 The educational attainment rate for Native American students 

is widening as bachelor’s degrees conferred by ethnicities has increased for every 

minority group, with Hispanics accelerating the highest from 5.6 percent in 1998 

to 7.5 percent in 2008. Other ethnicities have also had positive percent changes, 

such as African-Americans (2.8 percent) and Asian Americans (3.1 percent), while 

Native Americans remained flat over the 10-year period at 0.7 percent.3

The Federal Government has provided much more assistance and for far greater 

a time period to Hispanic Serving Institutions and Historically Black Institutions. 

Aside from Tribal College funds, there is only a $5.0 million Federal allocation annually that was created in fiscal year 2008–9 to support Native American students 

outside of Tribal Colleges, through the Native American Serving, Non-Tribal College 

discretionary funds at the U.S. Department of Education. We are one of a small 

number (18) of Native American Serving, Non-Tribal Colleges who focus on bachelors’ degree attainment for Native American students. We are only one of two with 

historic mandates that date back to the days after the Indian Wars; Fort Lewis College’s origins as a military fort and an Indian Boarding School. Together, by supporting S. 3504 we have an opportunity to extend beyond the 2-year Tribal Colleges 

and provide a quality educational experience for Native American students, so that 

they too can compete in the global market place and carry the hopes and dreams 

of their nation, and ours, into prosperity. 

We believe in our mission to educate Native American students and we do it well. 

One great example is our partnership with the Navajo Nation to bring the FLC 

Teacher Education program to the reservation. The positive impact of that partnership has been remarkable. In 1990, only 8 percent of certified teachers on the Navajo reservation were actually Navajo. As a result, instruction struggled as non-Navajo teachers lacked the cultural understanding to be effective with Navajo students. 

These struggles led to teacher retention problems for reservation schools and a further decrease in educational quality due to the high turnover rate for teachers. 

Today, due in large part to the Teacher Education partnership between FLC and 

the Navajo Nation, over 60 percent of teachers on the Navajo reservation are Navajo. Test scores are up at reservation schools and the schools are showing improved 

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In addition, many other of our Native American 

alumni are doing great things, alumni like Quanah Spencer, a Seattle-area attorney; 

Marsha Greyeyes-Appel, owner of her own business in Maryland; Melissa Henry, 

filmmaker and business owner in New Mexico; and, of course, Bill Mendoza, a leader of Native American education in Washington, DC. It would be a travesty to be 

unable to provide a broader base of support for a successful national program. The 

scope of the program has far exceeded the expectations set forth in the 1911 agreement between the State of Colorado and the Federal Government. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for the opportunity to appear 

before you today in support of S. 3504 and S. 484: I stand ready to answer any questions you might have for me. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you, Dr. Thomas. 

Dr. Johnson. 

STATEMENT OF JACQUELINE R. JOHNSON, Ph.D., CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MORRIS, MORRIS, MN 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you. I think you will hear some similarities 

in our stories here. 

Senator Bennet and other distinguished guests, thank you for 

this opportunity to speak to the importance and potential impact 

of the Native American Education Act of 2012. And thank you, 

Senator Bennet, for your leadership on this issue. We’re also grateful to Minnesota Senator Franken, who I understand is a co-sponsor of this bill, even though he couldn’t be with us today. 

The campus of the University of Minnesota Morris sits on land 

that was once home to the people of the Anishinaabe and the Dakota and Lakota nations. Before Morris opened its doors as a selective public liberal arts college in 1960, two other schools made their 
21 

home on these lands, the West Central School of Agriculture from 

1910 until 1963, and an American Indian Boarding School from 

1887 to 1909. 

The Indian Boarding School was run initially by a Catholic order 

of nuns and subsequently by the U.S. Government’s Bureau of the 

Interior. When the Bureau of the Interior turned over the buildings 

and land of the Indian Boarding School to the State of Minnesota 

to establish the agricultural high school, it stipulated that American Indian students would be admitted on the same conditions as 

other students and tuition free. 

When the Minnesota State Legislature established the Morris 

campus of the University of Minnesota in 1959, the same stipulation remained. These actions, as you know, are legally recorded in 

Federal and State laws. The University of Minnesota Morris is one 

of 30 schools in the country designated as a public liberal arts college. We are exclusively focused on undergraduates, residential, 

and serve around 1,800 students. 

Morris is the most racially diverse campus in the University of 

Minnesota System, selective in its admission standards, serving an 

academically talented group of students, more than a third of 

whom are the first generation in their families to attend college, 

and many of whom come from families with financial need. Our 

American Indian students reflect these same patterns. In 2011, 40 

percent of Morris’ Native students were low-income, and 45 percent 

were first-generation. 

Located on the edge of the Minnesota Prairie, as Garrison Keillor 

would say, close to the Dakotas, we are also a national leader in 

sustainability and clean energy initiatives. The campus is tied inextricably to the land, to the previous educational institutions that 

have resided here, and to all the peoples who have called this place 

their home. 

American Indians represent, as President Thomas has said, 

about 1 percent of baccalaureate college attending students nationally and in the State of Minnesota. At Morris, American Indian 

students comprise over 15 percent of the student body this year, 

and today is our first day of classes. This significant native student 

population makes Morris 1 of some 40 schools in the country eligible for the designation by the Federal Government as a Native 

American-Serving Non-Tribal Institution. 

Morris offers a number of programs that promote the success of 

students of color in general and several programs that are aimed 

particularly at American Indian students. A few months ago, Morris was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant that includes provisions to support American Indian students in summer 

research. Morris hosts an NSF-funded WindStep program that provides a summer immersion research experience for middle- and 

high-school students from reservations in the State and region. 

The campus has a strong and active chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, AISES, and will host the regional AISES meeting this spring. And the AISES publication, 

Winds of Change, named Morris as one of the top 200 educational 

institutions in the country for its support of American Indian students in 2011 and again this year. 
22 

While the majority of our native students come from Minnesota, 

more than 50 federally recognized tribes from 14 States and Alaska 

Native villages are represented on the campus. In all, 25 percent 

of Morris’ American Indian students are from out of State. 

Since its founding in 1960, as you noted earlier, Senator Bennet, Morris has waived more than $20 million in tuition for American 

Indian students, with $6 million supporting out-of-state students 

during that same time period. This year alone, we anticipate that 

we will waive $3 million, with $750,000 of that attributable to our 

out-of-state students. But this cost is not fully supported by the 

State of Minnesota or by the University of Minnesota System, and 

I want to say just a little bit about that, because I think our situation is somewhat different. 

In Minnesota, the State Legislature provides a direct general allocation to the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota System, in turn, distributes this allocation among its five 

separate campuses. In recent years, the University of Minnesota 

System has allocated directly to Morris only a portion of the unrealized revenue that results from this waiver. 

In fiscal year 2012, for example, the University of Minnesota’s central allocation to Morris to support the waiver was $1.65 million, approximately 65 percent of the total tuition that we waived. 

Over one-third of the waiver, approximately $900,000, was unfunded and absorbed by the University of Minnesota Morris. And 

as I noted, this year, fiscal year 2013, we anticipate that $750,000 

of the total tuition waived will be attributed to out-of-state students. 

We think it is right that the waiver should apply to students who 

are out-of-state as well as in-state. In running the American Indian 

Boarding School, the U.S. Federal Government’s Bureau of the Interior did not restrict enrollment only to those students who were 

from within the State of Minnesota. It drew students from across 

the region, just as we do now. 

In relegating American Indian people to reservations, the U.S. 

Federal Government did not restrict its actions to one or two tribes. 

It was inclusive in its disruption of the lives of native people across 

the country. Thus, our obligation to honor the Federal and State 

statutes by admitting qualified American Indian students on the 

same basis as other students and our practice of admitting students without respect to their State of residence follows directly 

from the past and is vitally important to the future. 

Education matters, and it is a critical part of the American 

dream. The education we provide to native students on our campus 

is unparalleled in our region and has benefits that extend well beyond our State and local borders. The 6-year graduation rate for 

American Indian students at the University of Minnesota Morris is 

61 percent, compared to 39 percent statewide. These graduates go 

on to serve in their communities, native communities, and communities in general as educators, healthcare professionals, public servants, lawyers, and business leaders. We know that achieving a 

bachelor’s degree has a dramatic impact not only on unemployment, but also on annual earnings. 

That American Indian families trust their sons and daughters to 

be educated on the land and in the buildings where not that long 
23 

ago a concerted effort was made to obliterate their culture and language is a matter of great significance to us. And it is a matter of 

great pride for the University of Minnesota Morris that we are able 

to move these young people along the path of education and success. 

The American Indian tuition waiver and its application to all native students, regardless of their State of residence, represents an 

effort from the past to redress wrongs done by the Federal Government and the American people to members of our sovereign Indian 

nations. The Native American Education Act of 2012 acknowledges 

that the burden of these wrongs should not only be borne by Colorado and Minnesota. It provides an opportunity for the Federal 

Government to participate in this important educational endeavor 

and to join with us in fostering the success of the population in this 

country that lives with the greatest educational and economic disparity. 

Thank you very much again for this opportunity, and I look forward to answering your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Johnson follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JACQUELINE R. JOHNSON, PH.D. 

SUMMARY

The campus of the University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) sits on land that was 

once home to people of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and the Dakota and Lakota (Sioux) 

nations. Before UMM opened its doors as a selective public liberal arts college in 

1960, two other schools made their home on these lands: the West Central School 

of Agriculture (1910–63), and an American Indian boarding school (1887–1909). 

When the U.S. Bureau of the Interior turned over the building and lands of the 

Indian boarding school to the State of Minnesota to establish the agricultural boarding high school, it was with the stipulation that American Indian students would 

be admitted on the same conditions as other students and tuition free. When the 

Minnesota State Legislature established the Morris campus of the University of 

Minnesota in 1959, this same stipulation remained. These actions are legally recorded in Federal and State laws. 

The legal and moral legacy reflected in Morris’s campus history shapes our institutional mission today. The University of Minnesota, Morris is tied inextricably to 

the land, to the previous educational institutions that have resided here, and to all 

the peoples who have called this place their home. 

Since its founding in 1960, Morris has waived more than $20M in tuition for 

American Indian students, with $6M supporting out-of-state students, most of them 

from the Dakotas and Wisconsin. The number of American Indian students attending Morris has increased dramatically in the past 5 years. 

Today, Native students comprise 15 percent of the student body on this campus 

of 1,800. Twenty-five percent of these students are from out-of-state. Morris is the 

most racially and ethnically diverse campus of the University of Minnesota, (more 

than 22 percent students of color). Selective in its admissions standards, Morris 

serves a high proportion of first-generation college students from families of significant financial need. In 2011, 40 percent of Morris’s American Indian students were 

‘‘low income’’; 45 percent were first-generation college students. There are many 

measures of success in the education of Native students at Morris, including a 6- 

year graduation rate for American Indian students of 61 percent, compared to 39 

percent for Native students statewide. (2010 cohort data) 

In Minnesota, the legislature provides a direct general allocation to the University 

of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota system, in turn, distributes this allocation among its five separate campuses. In recent years, the University of Minnesota 

system has allocated directly to Morris a portion of the unrealized revenue that results from this waiver. In fiscal year 2012, e.g., the University of Minnesota’s central allocation to Morris to support the waiver was $1.65M, approximately 65 percent of the total tuition waived. Over one-third of the waiver, approximately 

$900,000, was unfunded and absorbed by the University of Minnesota, Morris. This 
24 

year, fiscal year 2013, we anticipate that $750,000 of the waiver will be attributed 

to out-of-state students. 

The American Indian tuition waiver represents an effort from the past to redress 

wrongs done by the Federal Government and the American people to members of 

our sovereign Indian nations. That American Indian families trust their sons and 

daughters to be educated on the land and in the buildings where not that long ago 

a concerted effort was made to obliterate their culture and language is a matter of 

great significance to us. And it is a matter of great pride for the University of Minnesota, Morris that we are able to move these young people along the path of educational success. Senate bill 3504 distributes the cost of this endeavor more reasonably between the Federal Government and the States and provides an opportunity 

for the Federal Government to join with us to foster the success of the population 

in this country that lives with the greatest educational and economic disparity. 

IN THE BEGINNING

The campus of the University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) sits on land that was 

once home to people of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and the Dakota and Lakota (Sioux) 

nations. Before the era of westward expansion, this land provided support and sustenance to the members of these Indian tribes. 

In 1887, in what they saw as a well-intended effort to bring their religious beliefs 

and their teachings to others, members of the Catholic order of Sisters of Mercy established an American Indian Boarding School on these former Anishinaabe and 

Dakota/Lakota lands, which had, in 1847, become the State of Minnesota. The 

school removed young Indian children from their families and villages across this 

region and brought them to Morris to study and learn non-native ways and ‘‘industrial trades’’. The Sisters of Mercy ran the school until 1896, when they turned it 

over to the U.S. Federal Government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau renamed the school the Morris Industrial School for American Indians and continued 

to run it for 10 more years. 

In 1909, through Federal legislation and a Minnesota State statute, (in Laws 

1909, chapter 184), the land, some 290 acres, and buildings were deeded to the 

State of Minnesota for the purpose of establishing an agricultural boarding high 

school under the auspices of the University of Minnesota. 

From an ‘‘Act of Congress, March 3, 1909, the Sixtieth Congress, Session II: Chapter 268’’: 

Minnesota Morris School: That there is hereby granted to the State of Minnesota, upon the terms and conditions hereafter named the following described 

property, known as the Indian school at Morris Minnesota . . . Aggregating two 

hundred and ninety acres, with buildings, improvements, and other appurtenances thereon. Provided, That said lands and buildings shall be held and 

maintained by the State of Minnesota as an agricultural school, and that Indian 

pupils shall at all times be admitted to such school free of charge for tuition 

and on terms of equality with white pupils. 

The Governor of the State of Minnesota in 1909—the honorable John Johnson— 

expressed concern at the legislative acceptance of this offer from the Federal Government over what he perceived to be (in more contemporary language) ‘‘an unfunded mandate’’ about to be assumed by the State of Minnesota. In a letter to the 

Acting Commissioner of the Department of the Interior, he expressed his doubts: 

I find that under the act of congress authorizing the transfer of this property 

to the State, and under chapter 184 of the Laws of 1909 adopted by the last 

legislature, it is contemplated that the State should take possession of this 

property on the first of July, 1909, but I find that the legislature has made no 

appropriation for the care and maintenance of the school . . . (University of 

Minnesota, Morris Archives) 

The transfer happened in spite of his concerns. 

For more than 60 years, the West Central School of Agriculture provided secondary school opportunities from October through April—literally after harvest and 

before planting—for the sons and daughters of area farmers. Although our records 

are not perfect, it appears that only a handful of American Indian students were 

able to take advantage of this tuition-free educational experience during the agricultural high school era. In a sense, this was a rural version of an ‘‘exclusive’’ boarding 

school experience, but in this case with modest tuition costs and expansive educational opportunities. 

Just as the American Indian Boarding School movement began to wane in the 

early 1900s, so too the fate of the agricultural boarding school movement—it had 
25 

run its course by the late 1950s. Community leaders in the small farming town of 

Morris, MN began, then, to lobby State legislators for what they imagined could be 

an exceptional and somewhat unusual educational opportunity for the children of 

residents of this region—a public liberal arts college, fashioned after the elite private liberal arts schools that were and are such an important part of the upper Midwest and the eastern coast of the United States. The citizens prevailed, and the University of Minnesota, Morris was established as a 4-year public liberal arts college 

of the University of Minnesota in 1959. 

The original Minnesota State statute of 1909 was revised accordingly (1961), affirming the original directive regarding American Indian students. From ‘‘Minnesota 

state statutes: Chapter 137 (a statute which updates Minnesota Statute 184 of 

1909)’’: 

‘‘State Chapter 137. Section 137.16 MORRIS BRANCH; ADMISSION OF INDIANS. Subdivision 1. The University of Minnesota, Morris branch, situated in 

whole or in part on the lands described in laws 1909, chapter 184, shall admit 

Indian pupils qualified for admission at all times free of charge for tuition and 

on terms of equality with white pupils.’’ (Subdivision 2 of this statute provides 

that subdivision 1 is a substitute for the provisions of Laws 1909 chapter 184.) 

I include this brief historic account in my written testimony because the legal and 

moral legacy reflected in our history shapes our institutional mission today. The 

University of Minnesota, Morris is tied inextricably to the land and to all the peoples who have called it home. The educational institutions which have resided here 

are just as inextricably tied to greater social movements and initiatives in this country—from the American Indian boarding school movement to the agricultural boarding high school movement to the expansion of American higher education which occurred in the 1960s. This expansion promised to prepare a workforce for a growing 

American economy and it promised to open public educational opportunities to a 

broader array of people—those less privileged, those underrepresented in American 

higher education. 

As the most racially and ethnically diverse campus of the University of Minnesota, (more than 22 percent are students of color in a State that is not very racially diverse), as a campus with selective admissions standards that serves a high 

proportion of first generation college students (nearly 40 percent in this year’s entering class), and as a campus that serves many students whose families exhibit significant financial need (33 percent are Pell grant recipients; 96 percent receive financial aid), we are fulfilling that obligation and that promise. In 2011, 40 percent 

of Morris’s American Indian students were ‘‘low-income’’; 45 percent were first-generation college students. 

This is our legacy. We honor it. We are proud of it. 

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

American Indians represent about 1 percent of baccalaureate college-attending 

students nationally and in the State of Minnesota. At Morris, on our residential, undergraduate-focused liberal arts campus of 1,800 students, more than 275 American 

Indian students comprise over 15 percent of the student body. This significant Native student population makes Morris 1 of some 40 schools in the country eligible 

for designation by the Federal Government as a Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institution (NASNTI). 

American Indians, who are underrepresented nationally in all fields of study, find 

greater success at UMM than at other universities: 61 percent of UMM’s Native students graduate in 6 years compared with 39 percent statewide. (2010 cohort data) 

National, State and regional priorities call on us to increase undergraduate participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, particularly of students from underrepresented groups. The University of Minnesota, Morris is responding to this challenge in a number of ways. 

This spring, UMM was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant that 

includes provisions to support American Indian students in undergraduate summer 

research. Morris hosts an NSF-funded ‘‘WindStep’’ program that provides a summer 

immersion experience for middle- and high-school students from reservations in the 

State and region. These students live on campus and conduct real research in renewable energy both on the campus and on Indian reservations. Morris is a participant in another NSF-funded program—the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in STEM fields (LSAMP). This program provides support for students of 

color, including American Indian students, to engage in undergraduate research in 

STEM disciplines. The campus has a strong and active chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and will host the regional AISES 

meeting this spring. And the AISES publication, Winds of Change, named Morris 
26 

as one of the top 200 educational institutions in the country for its support of American Indian students in 2011 and again this year. 

We are also working on language revitalization on this campus, with courses in 

the Anishinaabe language offered as part of our regular curriculum and occasional 

courses offered in the Dakota/Lakota languages—one-half of Morris Native students 

are Anishinaabe and nearly a quarter are Dakota/Lakota. UMM has submitted a 

grant application to the State to provide additional funding to prepare K–12 teachers to teach these Native languages. We are working with our tribal community college partners in the region to facilitate the transfer of American Indian students 

who have completed associates degrees there to our baccalaureate granting school. 

The tuition waiver is a major factor in promoting the attendance and success of 

American Indian students on this campus. These students benefit from the many 

programs we have established. Eighty-six percent of American Indian students who 

are offered admission end up enrolling compared to 38 percent of students overall. 

As the cost of tuition increases, so, obviously, does the value of the waiver. 

This campus has demonstrated its unique and exceptional ability to promote educational experiences and opportunities for American Indian students, thus fulfilling 

both its legal and moral obligations. But, as Governor John Johnson recognized 

more than 100 years ago, there are significant challenges that come with a mandate 

whose funding has not been carefully thought through. With the passage of Senate 

bill 3504 and its companion bill in the House, the Federal Government has an opportunity to support our success by funding its fair share of the costs of the tuition 

waiver—that is the portion associated with out-of-State students. 

WHAT IS THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE WAIVER ON THE STATE OF MINNESOTA, THE

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MORRIS?

The number of Native students has increased steadily at Morris since the University’s founding in 1960, and it has grown exponentially over the course of the past 

5 years. 

We estimate that since the Morris campus opened as a public liberal arts college 

in 1960, we have waived over $20 million in tuition for American Indian students. 

The value of the tuition waived for out-of-State students in that same time period 

is estimated at over $6 million. (There is no in-state/out-of-state tuition differential 

for University of Minnesota, Morris students. Tuition for the 2012–13 academic year 

for all full-time students is just under $12,000.) 

In 2010 and 2011, 25 percent of Morris’s American Indian students receiving tuition waivers were from out-of-state. Fifty federally recognized American Indian 

tribes and Alaskan Native villages are represented on this campus, and most of our 

non-resident Native students are from States surrounding Minnesota—North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. We anticipate that in addition to the $20M already waived since 1960, we will waive an additional $3 million of tuition in the 

current fiscal year alone, with nearly $750,000 attributable to out-of-state students 

(25 percent). 

WHY WE ASK FOR SUPPORT FOR SENATE BILL 3504

The logic in Senate bill 3504 is sound. In running the American Indian Boarding 

School the U.S. Federal Government’s Bureau of the Interior did not restrict enrollment only to those students who were from within the State of Minnesota. It drew 

students from across this region, just as we do now. In relegating American Indian 

people to reservations, the U.S. Federal Government did not restrict its actions to 

one or two tribes. It was inclusive in its disruption of the lives of Native people 

across the Nation. Thus, our obligation to honor the Federal and State statutes by 

admitting qualified American Indian students on the same basis as other students 

and our practice of admitting students without respect to their State of residence 

follows directly from the past. 

And yet, in Colorado and in Minnesota, the cost associated with this mandated 

financial requirement is now borne entirely by the two States themselves. In Minnesota, the State legislature provides a direct general allocation to the University 

of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota system, in turn, distributes this allocation among its five separate campuses. In recent years, the University of Minnesota 

system has allocated directly to Morris a portion of the unrealized revenue that results from this waiver. 

For example, in fiscal year 2012, (academic year 2011–12) the University of Minnesota’s central allocation to Morris to support the tuition waived for American Indian students was $1.65M, approximately 65 percent of the total tuition waived. 

Over one-third of the waiver, approximately $900,000, was unfunded and absorbed 

by the University of Minnesota, Morris. Our campus is one of modest financial re-
27 

sources and this growing revenue gap is a significant concern for us. We are certified by the U.S. Department of Education as eligible for title III, IV and V grant 

funding, with our average educational and general expenditures per full-time student falling below the 4-year public college average (title III 2011 application, 2009– 

10 data). 

If modest growth in our American Indian student population continues over the 

course of this decade (2010–19), we anticipate that the total tuition waived in this 

decade will be more than $30 million. If the Federal Government were to assume 

a fair share of this mandate by funding the waiver for out-of-state students—as Senate bill 3504 suggests that it should—Morris would gain modest revenues of around 

$750,000 annually. 

EDUCATION MATTERS

U.S. Census Bureau data (in a 2004 report) show that American workers 18 years 

and older with a bachelor’s degree earn on average $51,000/year, compared to an 

annual income of $28,000 for workers with a high school diploma. Education matters and it remains a critical part of the American dream. In the United States, 28 

percent of adults nationwide have earned bachelor’s degrees compared to 13 percent 

of American Indian adults; in Minnesota, 32 percent of adults have earned bachelor’s degrees compared to 12 percent of American Indian adults. 

The American Indian tuition waiver represents an effort from the past to redress 

wrongs done by the Federal Government and the American people to members of 

our sovereign Indian nations. The waiver has been instrumental in promoting the 

success of many students over the course of the 50 years of UMM’s existence. Paulette Fairbanks Molin, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, is UMM’s first American Indian 

student graduate (UMM 1966). In 1995, she was a recipient of our Distinguished 

Alumni award. In receiving this award, she recounted her experience in coming to 

this campus. 

As an honors student in high school, she noted that she was discouraged by a 

high school counselor who believed she was better suited for marriage or attendance 

at an Indian trade school in Kansas than she was for a college degree. Nevertheless, 

she persevered and enrolled. She recalled her mother shivering when they arrived 

on campus, saying it reminded her of an Indian Boarding School. Her mother would 

know, having herself attended the boarding school at Pipestone, MN. 

Paulette went on to earn a doctorate at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities 

and then became a higher education administrator, serving as assistant dean of the 

graduate college and director of the American Indian Educational Opportunity Program at Hampton University in Virginia. 

At the end of the tribute that marks her acceptance of the distinguished alumni 

award, Dr. Molin says, 

‘‘UMM exposed me to new ideas and fostered my love of reading and learning 

while providing me with a home away from home. UMM also introduced me to 

new possibilities, possibilities that could transform lives, families, communities, 

and, indeed, the world. I was destined to remain on campus for 4 years, confounding expectations and beating the odds to graduate. Finally, there is this. 

UMM was pretty young, but built upon an American Indian foundation, a perfect match for a 17-year old with the same profile.’’ 

The wrongs of the past and this contemporary effort to address them weave their 

way into the future in a most positive way. That American Indian families trust 

their sons and daughters to be educated on the land and in the buildings where not 

that long ago a concerted effort was made to obliterate their culture and language 

is a matter of great significance to us. And it is a matter of great pride for the University of Minnesota Morris that we are able to move these young people along the 

path of educational success. Senate bill 3504 distributes the cost of this endeavor 

more reasonably between the Federal Government and the States and provides an 

opportunity for the Federal Government to join with us to foster the success of the 

population in this country that lives with the greatest educational and economic disparity. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. 

Mr. Echohawk, thank you for being here. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN E. ECHOHAWK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND, BOULDER, CO 

Mr. ECHOHAWK. Thanks for the invitation, Senator. 
28 

Over 40 years ago, I was a young lawyer starting out with the 

Native American Rights Fund headquartered in Boulder. We’re set 

up to be the national Indian legal defense fund representing tribes 

and native organizations and individuals across the country in important issues. And, of course, educational rights are among those 

issues. 

Even though we are a national organization with cases across 

the country, one of the first cases that we got involved in was this 

controversy over the tuition waivers at Fort Lewis in the early 

1970s. As a young lawyer, I was down here at the State Capitol, 

watching the proceedings as the State Legislature moved to try to 

limit the tuition waivers to Colorado resident Indian students. Of 

course, that was not supported by the native community. 

That basically then led to litigation, which the Native American 

Rights Fund helped with as Of Counsel. We were able to get the 

Federal Government to bring litigation to enforce the right to tuition waivers for all Indian students regardless of residency. We 

also assisted a private attorney in bringing a lawsuit on behalf of 

the Indian students themselves to enforce the State of Colorado’s 

obligation to provide tuition waivers to all Indian students as well. 

The case proceeded up to the 10th Circuit, and they ruled in 

1973, affirming a lower court decision that, indeed, the State of 

Colorado, under the 1910 Federal law, was obligated to provide tuition waivers to all Indian students regardless of residency, and 

that the 1910 law and the 1911 act by the State Legislature here 

created a contract between the Federal Government and the State 

of Colorado to provide that tuition-free education to all Indian students. And, for the record, I included a copy of that 1973 decision. 

So the State of Colorado complied with the law and started continuing to provide the tuition waivers. But, of course, over the 

years, as we’ve all talked about here today, the number of native 

students at Fort Lewis—since it’s such a great institution and Native Americans are in such need of educational assistance, the 

number of students has grown, and the cost to the State of Colorado has grown significantly as well. 

I am here to support the passage of S. 3504 because I think it’s 

important to keep the tuition waivers going. If the State of Colorado is having difficulty doing that, as the Lieutenant Governor 

has talked about, then I think it’s appropriate for the Federal Government under the Federal trust responsibility to come forward 

and assist the State of Colorado in providing those tuition waivers 

for all Indian students at Fort Lewis College. And I am very hopeful that the Congress will see fit to pass this legislation. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Echohawk follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JOHN E. ECHOHAWK

SUMMARY

I was involved as a lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund in successful 

litigation in the early 1970s on behalf of Indian students at Fort Lewis College that 

forced the college to comply with Federal law that required the college to admit all 

qualified Indians to the college free of tuition. Fort Lewis School had been a Federal 

property that admitted Indians tuition free and when the property was transferred 

to the State of Colorado in 1910 a condition was attached that required that Indians 

continue to be admitted to the school tuition free. Tuition waivers for all Indian students, whether Colorado residents or non-residents, are required by law. 
29 

As the number of Indian students at the College has grown over the years, the 

cost of the Indian tuition waivers has grown. S. 3504 would provide Federal financial assistance to the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College to help cover the 

costs of the Indian tuition waivers. The Native American Rights Fund supports 

S. 3504 so that tuition fee education for qualified Indian students can continue. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the invitation to testify today on S. 3504, the Native 

American Education Act of 2012. I am John Echohawk, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and executive director of the Native American Rights Fund 

headquartered in Boulder, CO. We have served as the national Indian legal defense 

fund since we were founded in 1970 and have been providing legal advice and representation to Native American tribes, organizations and individuals on nationally 

significant Indian issues for the past 42 years. 

Among the priority issues that we have always addressed is educational rights for 

Native Americans 

As a young lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund in the early 1970s, I 

became involved with the controversy over Indian tuition waivers at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. At that time, the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College 

were trying to limit the waiver of tuition for Indian students to Indian students who 

were Colorado residents. Prior to that time, tuition had always been waived for all 

Indian students pursuant to the 1910 Federal law that transferred Federal property 

near Durango containing Fort Lewis School which served Indian students over to 

the State of Colorado. The land grant was accepted by the State of Colorado and 

contained a condition that the land be used for a school and Indians be admitted 

to the school free of charge for tuition. 

Litigation ensued brought by the Federal Government and Indian students at 

Fort Lewis to stop the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College from limiting Indian tuition waivers. The Native American Rights Fund participated in the case in 

an AOf Counsel@ role. In 1973, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Federal district court decision in favor of the Federal Government and the Indian students (Tahdooahnippah v. Thimmig, 481 F.2d 438). A copy of that decision is attached to my testimony for inclusion in the record. 

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a contract existed which required 

the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College to admit all Indian students tuition 

free who were otherwise qualified. Over the years, the number of Indian students 

attending Fort Lewis has increased so the cost of the tuition waivers for the State 

of Colorado and Fort Lewis College has increased as well. If passed, S. 3504, the Native American Education Act of 2012, would provide Federal financial assistance to 

the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College in meeting the costs of tuition waivers 

for Indian students. 

The Native American Rights Fund supports the passage of S. 3504 to authorize 

Federal funding to assist the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College to meet its 

obligations to Indian students. The Federal Government has a trust responsibility 

to assist Indian students to obtain higher education. Indians are among the poorest 

and least educated people in the United States so the need is great. Fort Lewis College has become a great educational resource for Indian students and the United 

States should assist the State of Colorado to maintain that valuable educational resource for Indians. 
30 

ATTACHMENT
31 
32 
33 

Senator BENNET. Thank you. Thank you for being here. 

Mr. Tsabetsaye, we’d love to hear your testimony. 
34 

STATEMENT OF BYRON TSABETSAYE, STUDENT BODY 

PRESIDENT, FORT LEWIS COLLEGE, DURANGO, CO 

Mr. TSABETSAYE. Thank you, Senator. Good morning, 

Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor, and Pensions. My name is Byron Tsabetsaye. I 

am the president of the Associated Students of Fort Lewis College. 

When I was a very young boy just beginning to truly grasp the 

concept of education, I sat at the kitchen table with my father before a piece of paper. The piece of paper contained a lesson of 

counting money, particularly with coins. I was posed with the task 

of combining coins so they matched given odd amounts. 

Though counting change was the lesson, my imagination grasped 

a far different lesson. I presented to my father the solution to one 

of the exercises only to witness the disappointment on his face. 

Rather than using the traditional coins, pennies, nickels, dimes, 

and quarters, I decided to make my own coins by creating one with 

the value of 2 cents. Though I didn’t see it then, it was my first 

exposure to my dreams and reality. 

Last November, I had the opportunity to speak at an event called 

‘‘Toast to Leadership’’ at Fort Lewis College. The event was created 

by students to give students a chance to improve on their public 

speaking skills via experience and evaluation. I was asked to speak 

at the event on my topic of choice. The topic I chose to speak about 

was education, specifically my understanding of education. 

I grew up in the capital of the Navajo Reservation, a nation inside a nation where people strive to live in widespread poverty and 

little opportunities. It’s not easy to believe that in the year 2012 

there are people that live in our country with no electricity and 

running water. It’s not comfortable to know that children have the 

capacity to dream big but dream with limits due to lack of opportunity and exposure. It’s unsettling to witness such great potential 

dwindle in high school graduates that don’t have the resources to 

obtain a college education, even after surpassing the level of their 

parents’ education. 

I find comfort in knowing that at Fort Lewis College, there is a 

huge opportunity for Native Americans to achieve a college education. I have no doubt that all Native American students at Fort 

Lewis College hold their education with a very high value if not 

priceless. I have great respect for those individuals who fought 

their limiting beliefs and saw the feasibility of achieving a college 

education. 

My friend, Jessica Stewart, a Navajo student who served as the 

president of Beta Alpha Psi, an international honors organization 

for accounting and business majors, created opportunities for all 

students on campus, organizing trips to businesses and accounting 

firms. Jessica connected students with achieving their career goals. 

She also served as a student senator and made substantial 

progress holistically at Fort Lewis College. 

I shared joy with Jessica as she achieved her dream of obtaining 

a job from one of the top accounting firms in the world. Jessica is 

just one of many Native American students at Fort Lewis College 

that is truly making a positive difference for students on campus. 

When choosing Fort Lewis College, I saw a window of opportunity. It was a window that opened more windows for me in the 
35 

realm of higher education. My involvement and participation on 

campus has been dense. I am incredibly grateful for my college 

education at Fort Lewis College, and I am inspired to give back to 

the college and community. 

I served as the vice president of our college’s chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success. I created and facilitated 

success networking teams on campus that allowed students to convene and share their goals. It was an opportunity for students to 

help one another reach their goals. I give back to our admissions 

department as a student Ambassador. I welcome and help new students lay a foundation for their college years at Fort Lewis College 

as a new student orientation leader. 

In a recent jog in the park, I saw a very young boy climbing up 

a pillar made of uneven rocks, and he was nearly at the top. The 

adult of the boy sat on a bench close to him unwary, as she didn’t 

provide any resistance to his ambition. The boy, also unwary, used 

the pillar as a climbing wall because he saw a challenge without 

limits. 

I will soon begin my senior year at Fort Lewis College. I’ve never 

been more eager to begin an academic year. I have been envisioning all my possibilities since I was elected student body president. I stand in confidence not only representing the 138 tribes of 

Native Americans at my college, but all students of Fort Lewis College. 

Though I now know there is a difference in dreams and reality, 

I am not afraid to dream unrealistically. Without the Native American tuition waiver, many possibilities and dreams will be ceased. 

Thank you for your time, Mr. Chairman and committee members, and for the opportunity to appear before you today in support 

of Senate bill 3504 and Senate bill 484. I stand ready to answer 

any questions that you may have for me. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Tsabetsaye follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF BYRON TSABETSAYE

SUMMARY

NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION

An education is unique to any individual considering the characteristics, privilege, 

and demographics of the individual. My testimony shines the light on the education 

of Native Americans, particularly in higher education. There is an unfortunate reality for Native Americans because they lack the resources and understating of 

higher education. My self-realization of school being mandatory in my K–12 years 

and a privilege/possibility in college has prompted me to think substantially of the 

importance of Native American Education. 

I found it hard for us as Native Americans to overcome the limiting beliefs that 

came face to face with us throughout our upbringing. Many young children live in 

rural places on the Navajo Reservation; far from schools and the little resources our 

communities had. Unfortunately, some of us get stuck believing that a college education is not an option. I can understand why the agreement was made at Fort 

Lewis College for Native Americans to receive an opportunity at education at no 

cost. 

At Fort Lewis College, Native Americans see a possibility in challenging their limiting beliefs. My testimony contains an underlying theme: dream vs. reality. When 

given the resources and opportunities, one’s possibilities become infinite. I have 

overcome my limiting beliefs and my success has proven to make considerable positive changes in the realm of higher education at Fort Lewis College. I am one of 

many successful Native American Students at Fort Lewis College. We need Fort 

Lewis College and the college needs us. 
36 

Good Morning Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor, and Pensions, my name is Bryon Tsabetsaye and I am the president of the Associated Students at Fort Lewis College. 

When I was a very young boy just beginning to truly grasp the concept of education, I sat at the kitchen table with my father before a piece of paper. The piece 

of paper contained the lesson of counting money, particularly with coins. I was 

posed with the task of combining coins so they matched given odd amounts. Though 

counting change was the lesson, my imagination grasped a far different lesson. I 

presented to my father, the solution to one of the exercises only to witness the disappointment on his face. Rather than using the traditional coins: pennies, nickels, 

dimes and quarters, I decided to make my own coins by creating one with the value 

of two cents. Though I didn’t see it then, it was my first exposure to my dreams 

and reality. 

Last November, I had the opportunity to speak at an event called ‘‘Toast to Leadership’’ at Fort Lewis College. The event was created by students to give students 

a chance to improve on their public speaking skills via experience and evaluation. 

I was asked to speak at the event on my topic of choice. The topic I chose to speak 

about was education, specifically my understanding of education. 

I grew up in the capital of the Navajo Reservation, a nation inside a nation where 

people strive to live in widespread poverty and little opportunities. It’s not easy to 

believe that in the year 2012 there are people that live in our country with no electricity and running water. It’s not comfortable to know that children have the capacity to dream big but dream with limits due to lack of opportunity and exposure. It’s 

unsettling to witness such great potential dwindle in high school graduates that 

don’t have the resources to obtain a college education, even after surpassing the 

level of their parent’s education. 

I find comfort in knowing that at Fort Lewis College, there is a huge opportunity 

for Native Americans to achieve a college education. I have no doubt that all Native 

American students at Fort Lewis College hold their education with a very high 

value if not priceless. I have great respect for those individuals who fought their 

limiting beliefs and saw the feasibility of achieving a college education. 

My friend, Jessica Stewart, a Navajo student who served as the president of Beta 

Alpha Psi, an international honors organization for accounting and business majors. 

Jessica created opportunities for all students on campus organizing trips to businesses and accounting firms. Jessica connected students with achieving their career 

goals. Jessica also served as a student senator and made a substantial progress holistically at Fort Lewis College. I shared joy with Jessica as she achieved her dream 

of obtaining a job from one of the top accounting firms in the world. Jessica is just 

one of many Native American students at Fort Lewis College that is truly making 

a positive difference for students on campus. 

When choosing Fort Lewis College, I saw a window of opportunity. It was a window that opened more windows for me in the realm of higher education. My involvement and participation on campus has been dense. I am incredibly grateful for my 

college education at Fort Lewis College that I am inspired to give back to the college 

and community. I served as the vice president of our college’s chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success. I created and facilitated successful networking teams on campus that allowed students to convene and share their goals. 

It was an opportunity for students to help one another reach their goals. I give back 

to our admissions department as a student Ambassador. I welcome and help new 

students lay a foundation for their college years at Fort Lewis College as new student orientation leader. 

In a recent jog in the park, I saw a very young boy climbing up a pillar made 

of uneven rocks and he was nearly at the top. The adult of the boy sat on a bench 

close to him unwary as she didn’t provide any resistance to his ambition. The boy, 

also unwary, used the pillar as a climbing wall because he saw a challenge without 

limits. 

I will soon begin my senior year at Fort Lewis College. I’ve never been more eager 

to begin an academic year. I have been envisioning all my possibilities since I was 

elected student body president. I stand in confidence not only representing the 138 

tribes of Native Americans at my college, but all students of Fort Lewis College. 

Though I now know there is a difference in dreams and reality, I’m not afraid to 

dream unrealistically. Without the Native American Tuition Waiver, many possibilities and dreams will be ceased. 

Thank you for your time Mr. Chairman and committee members for the opportunity to appear before you today in support of S. 3504 and S. 484: I stand ready 

to answer any questions that you may have for me. 
37 

Senator BENNET. Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony. 

I’ll just start here and come across. 

Dr. Thomas, could you say a little bit about how the tuition waiver program has provided benefits to the entire country, particularly 

with respect to STEM education? 

Ms. THOMAS. I would be happy to. Fort Lewis College is No. 1 

in STEM degrees awarded to Native American students. We have 

about $8 million in Federal grants right now. We are doing the 

best we can to pull ourselves up by our own boot straps. We have 

a National Institute of Health grant for $2 million over 5 years 

called MARC—Minority Access to Research Careers. And these are 

to assist our graduates to go on for health-related Ph.D.s. 

We are identifying talented students and supporting and training 

them for the next step after their bachelor’s degree. We have a National Science Foundation STEM talent expansion program, which 

is $800,000 over 5 years, to help with science classes, tutoring, and 

research projects, and it’s in partnership with San Juan College, 

moving students from their 2-year degree to us for their transfer 

to a bachelor’s degree. 

We have a Department of Education Title III Native American- Serving Non-Tribal Institution award of $2 million, which provides 

equipment, facilities, and curricular support for Native American 

students. We have another Department of Education title III grant 

for math foundations and STEM success. That’s another $2 million. 

And we’ve created a great deal of help there for math instructors, 

for changes in course materials. We have an Algebra alcove, so 

we’re really working on the math fundamentals and calculus moving through. We have two Department of Education Student Support Services TRiO grants of $2 million. 

In addition to these programs, we have a very active and wellsupported Native American Center with five people who help with 

enrichment advertising. We have academic counseling and math 

and science support there as well. So we have a strong infrastructure to help our students move not just through the bachelor’s, but 

on into graduate degrees. 

I would comment, when you asked about the Nation, that we 

have a partnership with the Navajo nation to bring Fort Lewis College teacher education to the reservation. The positive impact of 

that partnership has been remarkable. In 1990, only 8 percent of 

certified teachers on the Navajo reservation were actually Navajo. 

As a result, instruction struggled as non-Navajo teachers lacked 

the cultural understanding to be effective with Navajo students. 

These struggles led to teacher retention problems for reservation 

schools and a further decrease in educational quality due to the 

high turnover rate of teachers. 

Now, due in large part to the teacher education partnership with 

Fort Lewis College, over 60 percent of the teachers on the Navajo 

reservation are Navajo. Test scores are up at reservation schools, 

and they’re showing improved adequate yearly progress. 

In addition, I would cite anecdotal evidence of many of our Native American alums who are doing great things. Quanah Spencer 

is a Seattle area attorney. Marsha Greyeyes-Appel owns her own 

business in Maryland. Melissa Henry is a filmmaker and business 
38 

owner in New Mexico. And, of course, you just heard from Bill 

Mendoza, part of President Obama’s diversity initiative. 

Senator BENNET. In the context of all of that, maybe you could 

elaborate a little bit on the particular responsibilities from your 

point of view to this Nation that come with being a Non-Tribal Native American-Serving College. 

Ms. THOMAS. The responsibilities are, of course, contractual with 

the State of Colorado. In addition to that, we go back to the fact 

that our country has done much more to help African-Americans 

and Hispanics than they have done to help Native Americans with 

higher education. 

While we come with a rather peculiar route from a 100-year-old 

contract that no one could have foreseen to turn into this, both the 

University of Minnesota Morris and Fort Lewis College have ended 

up as magnets, as centers, who welcome their charge, their mission, for Native American education and who also are the baccalaureate institutions for the 2-year tribal colleges, encouraging students to go on and seek the 4-year degree. So we become, in effect, 

a type of historically native institution, with responsibilities far beyond that of the respective States of Minnesota and Colorado. 

Senator BENNET. Dr. Johnson, do you have anything you’d like 

to add? 

Ms. JOHNSON. Just more of the same. I was thinking, President 

Thomas, as you were speaking about the particular mission of our 

institutions along with the 30 in the country that were public liberal arts colleges, our campus is much more like the private liberal 

arts schools that are really important in the Midwest and especially on the East Coast. 

We offer that kind of education that was once reserved for privileged, was once reserved for elites, and we offer that same quality 

of education in a residential-focused undergraduate experience. We 

are able to serve and proud to serve native students in that kind 

of special education environment, I think, is an extraordinary mission, and it’s an honor to be part of an organization like that. 

Like the students at Fort Lewis College, we want our students, 

when they graduate, to stay in Morris. We’re a small town, and so 

there aren’t a lot of opportunities. We’d love it if they would stay 

in the State of Minnesota. But the truth is that our students are 

going around the country, and they’re serving, and they’re contributing to the essential qualities of democratic society in the kind of 

education that we provide. That includes civic engagement and 

service and a sense of citizenship. 

That’s the particular mission of public liberal arts colleges. And 

that we’re able to serve a large percentage of students who represent under-represented groups is a really special thing. I would 

just add that piece. 

Senator BENNET. President Thomas, could you talk a little bit 

about what you’re doing to improve graduation rates for Native 

American students at Fort Lewis? 

Ms. THOMAS. I would be happy to. Many of our students have the 

bumpy road that Bill Mendoza talked about. We have worked very 

hard in the last 10 years to increase our retention rates, and they 

have gone in that period from 37 percent to 54 percent. Our graduation rates spread out further, and in 6 years, we’re at 23 percent, 
39 

at 10 years, we’re 28. Our Native American students very often 

take longer. They will come in and out, or they will simply not take 

as large a load. Sometimes it takes longer to choose a major. And 

we are working very hard with the complete college—— 

Senator BENNET. I’m sorry. Is that for economic reasons? 

Ms. THOMAS. Often it is for economic reasons. Even with the 

waiver, they still have room and board and fees to pay—and with 

the need for Pell grants and to take loans. They sometimes drop 

out and work, or they will go home, and then they will come back. 

So we see a lot more of the bumpy roads. 

We’re working really hard, and the whole initiative of Complete 

College America and, particularly, Complete College Colorado, for 

the Finish in Four—and we’re working very hard to help students 

explore, but explore more quickly and try to move through to their 

degree a little faster than they have done. We would love it if it 

was quite a lot faster. So the whole Complete College Colorado 

movement has really given us the inspiration to focus on that and 

push for that. 

Senator BENNET. Chancellor, could you talk about—if we were 

able to get this passed, and the Federal Government were able to 

help with the responsibility here that we all want to fulfill—how 

that might improve the quality of your program or help you improve the quality of your program for Native American students, in 

particular? 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you. I appreciate the question, and I want 

to come back just for a minute and revisit the difference in how the 

funding formulas work in our two States, because I think it’s important for the record to note that we forego just under $1 million 

a year now in tuition revenue that is not funded through the University of Minnesota System because of the way in which the allocation happens, and, again, $750,000 this year coming from out-ofstate students. 

Like Fort Lewis College, we’ve been the recipients of a number 

of grants that have assisted all of our students, but, in particular, 

Native American students. But we need to do more. We would use 

the additional funding in particular ways. 

Following the lines of an answer to the question that you just 

posed, for the Regents of the University of Minnesota, for the legislators in the State of Minnesota, graduation rates and retention 

rates are really, really important. If we’re investing money in education, we want to see the outcomes. We want to see that students 

are moving their way through the system. We would continue to 

invest in the programs that we have and to enhance them to speed 

the graduation and the quality of the experience for our undergraduate students. 

I mentioned in my testimony that our native students have a 61 

percent 6-year graduation rate at our university. That’s a product, 

I think, of our size and some of the selectivity indicators. But it’s 

also a product of the programs and the staff that we have to support those students. We support students through a WindStep program, so it’s the step program that you also mentioned, bringing 

the middle and high school students to our campus. 

More than 50 percent of our students participate in undergraduate research—all of our students. We have several programs 
40 

that are specifically geared toward American Indian students participating in undergraduate research. We know that students who 

are engaged year-round and students who are engaged as you are 

in so many different aspects of campus life are the students who 

are most likely to persist. 

Principally, our dollars are invested in our undergraduate students—maybe not as much as we would like sometimes in faculty 

and staff salaries, things like that. But we think that’s the most 

important investment we could make, and that would be the impacts that we would look to. 

Senator BENNET. Actually, while we have you here, and since 

you’ve come all the way from Minnesota, if there are two or three 

things that you’re doing that you think are particularly useful that 

ought to be replicated in other places, for the record, would you like 

to tell us what those would be? 

Ms. JOHNSON. I would. I think some of the same things that 

President Thomas has talked about—we participate in the Federal 

Government’s LSAMP program, in the NSF WindStep program. We 

are a campus that has really set some standards across the country 

in terms of renewable energy and sustainability, and we’re using 

that as a platform for undergraduate research. 

The WindStep program that serves middle and high school students actually has those students engaged in doing real research 

on the reservation. Last summer, they worked on the White Earth 

reservation and scoped out the possibilities of wind turbines. Our 

campus is powered by wind. Some days, we’re 100 percent off the 

grid. 

I mentioned that we are active in the American Indian Engineering Society. We are in the process of leveraging our relationship 

with the University of Minnesota System this year to develop a 

program with the graduate program in nursing on the Twin Cities 

campus that will prepare graduate students in nursing, particularly for rural communities and American Indian communities. 

We’re using that sense of legacy and mission to really better the 

lives, we hope, of people not only on our campus and in our State, 

but around the country. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you. Finally, if you also could help us 

understand how the program at your school is benefiting the Nation as a whole, I think that helps give context to why we’re having 

the discussion that we’re having here today. 

Ms. JOHNSON. You have heard some differences. As I mentioned 

earlier, 25 percent of our students are from out-of-state. That’s 

been a pretty consistent number. But we also represent 50 tribes. 

I just want to reinforce this, that I think in the original boarding 

school, students who were served were not just from Minnesota. In 

fact, more of our students in the boarding school were from the Dakotas. We’re in western Minnesota. We’re very close to the Dakota 

boundaries. 

I think the legacy and the impact of this American Indian tuition 

waiver is intended not just to be limited by State boundaries, but 

is really intended to redress some of the wrongs that were part of 

this Nation’s history. And we are doing that in really important 

ways. 
41 

Students from Minnesota are in Washington, DC. They’re all 

across the country—our students who have graduated—in terms of 

the work that they’re doing. So it’s really wrong to think about this 

waiver as something that is just limited by State boundaries, both 

in terms of the students that we serve and in terms of where those 

students go. They are serving this country in important ways and 

contributing to the democratic fabric of this society. 

Senator BENNET. That brings me to Mr. Echohawk for some legal 

help on this. You are the expert in many ways on this, and your 

work is so well-known over many decades. I wanted to ask whether 

you thought the bill changes the terms of the original 1911 agreement between the State and the Federal Government, or do you 

feel it simply allows the Federal Government to pay a portion of 

the cost of the tuition waiver program? 

Mr. ECHOHAWK. I don’t think that it would change the provisions 

of the original contract. I think it’s just a way for the Federal Government to come in and assist with the execution of the obligations 

by the State of Colorado of those provisions that are in the contract 

and pursuant to the Federal trust responsibility, which I think is 

what the Federal Government was doing in 1910 when it had the 

school, and its intent to make sure that Indians could be educated 

there. I think it would just basically be assisting the State of Colorado to do that, even though Colorado has the obligation under the 

contract to do that as well. 

Senator BENNET. Could you, while you’re here, say a little more 

about what the nature of that trust responsibility is and what the 

cases that you’ve been involved with—how they inform your understanding of that trust responsibility and how it’s being fulfilled 

through this contract that we have as the State of Colorado and 

will help support if we’re able to pass this legislation at the Federal 

level? 

Mr. ECHOHAWK. Under the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Government entered into, basically, a government-to-government relationship with tribal nations. Tribal affairs are the exclusive province of the Federal Government, and pursuant to that constitutional provision, many treaties were made, and the Federal Government has always dealt with tribes on a nation-to-nation basis. 

Part of that relationship has been assisting Indian nations to continue their existence as sovereign governments and to do the things 

that governments need to do for their people. 

As part of that relationship, the Federal Government has provided money for many different services for tribal citizens, and 

among those things that they have assisted with has been education, not only at the K–12 level, but at the college level. My own 

law school education was funded by the Federal Government as 

part of this Federal trust responsibility to assist Indians broadly, 

including in the area of education. 

I think it’s very appropriate for the Federal Government to see 

what’s happened at Fort Lewis. As we’ve talked about here, it’s the 

most popular 4-year college in America in terms of the number of 

Indian graduates it produces. And it’s certainly within the Federal 

Government’s realm to recognize that and to do what it can to continue that success story for native students. 
42 

Senator BENNET. Thank you. Thank you again for being here 

today. 

Mr. Tsabetsaye, could you talk about how important the tuition 

waiver is for students at Fort Lewis College, in your view? What 

difference would it make if it went away? 

Mr. TSABETSAYE. A huge difference. It would be the difference in 

my education, the reason for me sitting here today. I believe that 

my education is my core, and it’s what makes me—and I think that 

a lot of the students at Fort Lewis College that are Native American would agree that because of their education, they are able to 

achieve such success and opportunities in their lives, compared to 

a lot of the students that drop out and a lot of the students that 

don’t have other opportunities in their lives and remain on the reservation or in other areas where they’re not able to achieve success. 

The Native American tuition waiver at my school, quite frankly, 

is the one opportunity for everyone, for Native Americans to get 

their education. I’ve been asked that many times, and I know with 

many students, an education is unique to their own selves. So 

when I say that it makes me, I know that a lot of students still 

have the same feelings, however, they have their own beliefs and 

thoughts on how their education has benefited them and how they 

can achieve success in their lives, not just in college, but also in 

their careers for after college. 

Senator BENNET. I appreciate very much your use of the word, 

unique. So I’m going to ask a second question about that. Tell us 

what has been unique about your experience at Fort Lewis College 

and your impression about your experience there versus other 

choices that you might have made to go to other universities. 

What’s been particularly special for you about Fort Lewis? 

Mr. TSABETSAYE. How my education is unique to me is because, 

as I mentioned in my testimony, there are many students on the 

reservation that don’t see the opportunities and don’t pass their 

limited beliefs. It’s unique to me because I was able to overcome 

my limiting beliefs. Graduating high school was really a big deal 

for me, even though I had no immediate plans for college after high 

school until the month before August, after graduating high school. 

I enrolled in college at the very last minute, registered for classes 

at the very last minute, and from there, I saw an opportunity of 

achieving an education. Prior to that, it was hard for me to believe—and a lot of the students that I graduated high school with— 

that it was even a possibility. For me to understand that, it really 

helped me lay a foundation for what could be my career in college 

and professionally. 

At Fort Lewis College, I was able to hop on with so many opportunities and organizations and clubs and things on campus that 

have helped me achieve those goals and overcome more limiting beliefs that I faced and hurdles and, as they have mentioned, ‘‘bumpy 

roads,’’ which I too experienced. I felt that at Fort Lewis College, 

I’ve had those clubs and organizations to rely on to help me succeed, as well as mentors and professional staff who consider me as 

a colleague, as opposed to a student. 

Senator BENNET. I can’t resist to ask how you went from graduating from high school, obviously, to prepare to go to college and 
43 

concluding that you were going to go to college in that month. How 

did that happen in the summer? 

And then this is not the topic, necessarily, of this hearing, but 

for the record and for the benefit of the committee and for the work 

that we need to do on Native American education, generally, I wonder if you could share your own impressions about your K–12 experience, what room for improvement there is and what we ought to 

be doing to deliver a higher quality education and make sure more 

people are ready when they graduate from high school to go to college. I’m sorry to ask you for that dissertation, but since you’re 

here, I’d like it in the record. 

Mr. TSABETSAYE. My decision to go to college was, like I said, last 

minute. But it was also because of someone in my life, a family 

member, who knew of the opportunity and who saw potential that 

I didn’t see and offered me a place to stay and help in getting into 

college. So when I saw that help, I took it, even though I didn’t 

know—I wasn’t 100 percent about it at the time. 

In my K–12 years, I lived—there are many towns on the reservation that are rural, and when I’m talking rural, I mean one or two 

houses. That is considered your own community. I lived far from 

my school, and every day, I actually passed the border, because, 

technically, we lived very close to the New Mexico border. The road 

that took me to school went into the New Mexico border and then 

back into the Arizona border, and so every day was quite a challenge to get to school. 

Even today, with my little sister, who is in the seventh grade, 

my parents have to drive her about 10 miles for her to get to the 

bus that will take her to school. So when I say that the towns are 

rural, that also gives you other challenges to being involved in 

school and seeing opportunities. 

I know that there were many things in school that I could have 

gotten involved with, but I couldn’t because I lived far from the 

school that I attended. And I know that there are a lot of kids on 

the reservation still that probably see those hurdles of being far 

from the school. But even if not the distance, they don’t have the 

motivation or they don’t see the possibility. 

Senator BENNET. What is the plan after you graduate? 

Mr. TSABETSAYE. After I graduate Fort Lewis, I will continue my 

education, and within the next couple of weeks, I will start applying to graduate school. I will be majoring in higher education and 

student affairs. A lot of what I do at Fort Lewis College is in the 

realm of student affairs and higher education. As I stated in my 

testimony, I help a lot of students with their college careers and 

help them build a foundation for their professional career. 

I plan to do that professionally, and I really have a passion for 

what I do at the college and the people that I work with who are 

in those careers. I think that my help to them and for the college 

has been substantial, and I know that in the future, it’s going to 

be even greater. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you very much for your testimony. It 

has been inspirational. I’m very grateful that you came here. 

And to everybody on the second panel, thank you very much for 

your efforts getting us to this point. We’ll be back in touch. Thank 

you. 
44 

We’re going to take 1 second here. You guys can go, and let me 

figure out what we’re doing. Thank you. 

Senator Campbell. 

I don’t have an introduction for Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. But if there was ever anybody that didn’t need an introduction, it is him. 

We are grateful that you’re here to share a few words with the 

committee, and we thank you. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL (RETIRED) 

Senator CAMPBELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I found that testimony really, really interesting and enlightening, and I harken back 

to 30 years ago when I was kind of a fixture in this building long 

before I went to Congress. And I was impressed then, as I am now, 

about the positive relationship with Native Americans and the 

State of Colorado. We’ve had some, as you know in the history of 

Colorado, some bleak and black days, and the Sand Creek Massacre is an example of one of them. 

But if you look around this beautiful room—I was just sitting in 

my seat in the third or fourth row there—the stained glass windows, four of the five, have Native Americans portrayed in the 

stain glass windows. I think that’s an example—as those windows 

are also in other rooms here—that people in the State of Colorado 

and certainly the legislature recognize the positive important influence that the Indian people have had to the growth of the State. 

I have some written testimony. With your permission, I’d like to 

enter it into the record. 

Senator BENNET. Without objection. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Campbell follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, U.S. 

SENATOR, RETIRED, FORMER CHAIRMAN, SENATE COMMITTEE ON

INDIAN AFFAIRS, NORTHERN CHEYENNE

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your legislative efforts under S. 484 

and S. 3504 and what they mean to American Indian education. I 

am happy to have the opportunity to provide some insight today regarding two very successful education programs for American Indians, and the unintended financial consequences on the States that 

entered into agreement with the Federal Government to offer these 

programs. 

My wife, Linda, and I live just east of Durango, CO, home of Fort 

Lewis College. My family has a long history at Fort Lewis College. 

Long before I was involved in politics, I taught at Fort Lewis College, Linda later served as a member of the board of trustees at 

the college, and both of our children are graduates of Fort Lewis. 

Fort Lewis College is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Native American Serving, Non-Tribal College. 

Fort Lewis College is central to this discussion, because it is one 

of two institutions in the Nation, the other being the University of 

Minnesota—Morris, that offer a waiver of tuition for all American 

Indian students, under legislative agreements between the Federal 

Government and their respective States. I am sure that you will 
45 

hear the genesis of these programs from others testifying today, 

but I feel the history cannot be emphasized enough. 

In the early 1900s, Fort Lewis was a former military fort, a remnant of the old Indian wars. It was no longer used for military purposes, but was instead used to educate American Indian youngsters. Reports from this period indicate that the number of students being educated at the time numbered in the single digits. 

Given the lack of long-range transportation at the time, these 

youngsters were likely Navajo or Ute children from the area. In 

1911, the U.S. Government, in an effort to divest themselves of far 

flung, decommissioned outposts, made an offer to the State of Colorado to give ownership of Fort Lewis, and over 6,000 acres of surrounding land, to the State in exchange for an agreement to continue to educate American Indian students, tuition-free, on par 

with white students. The State agreed and Federal legislation was 

enacted codifying that agreement. During the same time period, a 

very similar legislative agreement was also struck with the State 

of Minnesota to educate Indian kids in exchange for land. 

The old Fort and adjacent land in Colorado, near the town of 

Hesperus, eventually became Fort Lewis College. In the 1950s, 

Fort Lewis College moved to its current location in Durango, CO 

and the State Land Board assumed oversight and control of the 

Hesperus land. After the move, Fort Lewis continued its mission to 

educate American Indian students. 

Fort Lewis College does an outstanding job on behalf of all in 

their student body. But, they do an especially noteworthy job in the 

area of American Indian Higher Education, awarding more baccalaureate degrees to American Indian students than any 4-year college or university in the United States. They also award more 

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math degrees to American 

Indian students than any other 4-year institution. 

There are 564 federally recognized American Indian tribal governments in the country. Another 300 or so are desperately seeking 

recognition that was stripped of them decades ago. For the most 

part, American Indians have been an overlooked, often ignored people, who long ago were driven from their homelands and hunting 

grounds onto postage stamp-sized reservations to make room for 

American progress, cloaked in terms such as Westward Expansion 

or Manifest Destiny. Indian people did not reap the benefits of the 

‘‘progress’’, instead they became forcibly dependent on a government that promised to feed them and care for them as long as they 

stayed out of the way. The lands they were given were often not 

fit for habitation, let alone economic development. Their dependency increased and their work ethic diminished. 

When I sat as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I often asked Tribal Leaders about their plans for economic 

development. Many times I was told that their plan consisted of 

getting a government grant to pay for a program to provide a few 

jobs. For too many tribes, government assistance is all they know. 

But, even that is not enough. My tribe, the Northern Cheyenne in 

Lame Deer, MT, has an unemployment rate of 78 percent that IMPROVES to 60 percent during the summer months when some tribal members get work on fire crews for the BLM and Forest Service. 

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota has the highest teen sui-
46 

cide rate in the WORLD. Indian Country has scores of reservations 

whose people still live in Third World conditions. They have the 

highest drug and alcohol abuse rates, the highest welfare rates, the 

highest suicide rates and the lowest mortality of any group in 

America. 

Decades of dependency, and a litany of social ills cannot be cured 

by government programs. It cannot be cured by well-meaning charitable donations. While these well-meaning programs help, the only 

answer to healing what is wrong with so much of Indian Country 

is EDUCATION! Education allows young Indian people to see the 

possibilities in the world. It allows them to bring skills back to the 

reservation to help develop their economies, assist tribal governments, and mentor the next generation of young people, thus lessening the overall burden on stretched Federal resources. Today, 

most Indian youngsters still look at the leaders of centuries ago, 

Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Crazy Horse and others for inspiration. 

Education creates modern heroes they can identify with and be inspired by. That is why the work of Fort Lewis College is so important. Fort Lewis graduates are already making a name for themselves in business, engineering, and even in government, as evidenced by Bill Mendoza, who is testifying today, and is a valued 

member of President Obama’s administration. 

One hundred years ago, the State of Colorado entered into an 

agreement that, at the time, sounded like a pretty good deal: Educate a handful of Indian kids each year, in exchange for a piece of 

land. Neither the State, nor the Federal Government could have 

possibly foreseen what the future would hold: 

Today, the Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition 

Waiver is assisting nearly 900 American Indian students in obtaining a college degree. Nearly 700 of those students come 

from out-of-State. In fact, in the last 10 years alone, students 

attending Fort Lewis under the Native American Tuition 

Waiver represent 46 States, 191 congressional districts, and 

269 tribal governments. 

This has truly become a program of national scope. The college 

has embraced its mission and exceeded all expectations. They have 

done an exceptional job of educating thousands of American Indian 

students and word of their accomplishments has spread throughout 

Indian Country. However, success does have a price. The State of 

Colorado could never have foreseen that their agreement to provide 

education to Indian students in their region would become a national program with a cost to the State of over $13 million per year. 

In fact, the Native American Tuition Waiver has cost the State of 

Colorado over $120 million in the last 25 years alone, yet the value 

to the land from the Old Fort property is estimated at less than 

$20 million. This deficit puts this very successful education program at risk. Nobody ever foresaw the rapid expansion of this program and thus the State and the college were unable to fully prepare for the rapidly rising costs. 

Thus, your bills, S. 484 and S. 3504, allow the State of Colorado 

to hold true to the original intent of the 1911 legislation by providing tuition-free education to the area, in-State, Native students, 

while providing funding for the out-of-State students, frozen at the 

levels at the time of passage, with the State being responsible for 
47 

the continued future growth of the program. This gives the State 

a degree of relief from the Federal Government for this national 

scale program, without relieving the State of its long-term obligation, while allowing the State government a planning window to 

address the future costs and growth of the program. Though the 

out-of-State student participation at University of Minnesota Morris is much smaller, it would also provide the State of Minnesota 

similar relief. 

As the affected States and institutions are limited and the annual cost is capped, passage of this legislation will not allow these 

limited costs to grow beyond enactment. Also, it should be noted 

that this legislation is inclusive of more than one State and institution. 

Mr. Chairman, your legislation will not only provide relief to two 

States who have operated in good faith for more than 100 years 

under terms of an agreement that has grown in scope beyond anyone’s reasonable expectations, but it will also protect programs that 

are providing valuable educational opportunities where it is needed 

most. Every dollar spent on Indian education is multiplied in dollars saved in welfare and dependency. It raises a generation of people up to break the cycle of dependency. Fort Lewis College and the 

University of Minnesota Morris are teaching men and women to 

fish, not merely giving them a fish, and that is money well-spent. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your efforts to protect and enhance Indian education. 

Senator CAMPBELL. And, also, if you would, pass on our thanks 

to Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi for allowing us to 

hold this hearing. I certainly appreciate their help and support in 

this. 

I was jotting some little ad lib notes on a piece of paper back 

there as I heard the testimony. And I don’t know of anyone, Mr. 

Chairman, that wants to get out of the deal. Certainly, some errant 

people here in the legislature in the past—a couple of them have 

tried that, as you know. As John Echohawk testified, the courts 

slapped their fingers and said, ‘‘No, no. A deal is a deal. You’re not 

going to get out of that.’’ 

But I know of nobody that wants to do that now. In fact, I don’t 

know of any citizen in Colorado that wants to get out of the deal. 

They know that we have that obligation, that the State of Colorado 

signed that, and it should go on. 

But I’d like to just maybe broaden my comments a little bit, too, 

since even though it’s common knowledge in Indian country, maybe 

not so much for the people that do support the waiver to recognize 

what they’re supporting from a human standpoint. My friend, Bill 

Mendoza, comes from what we call a hard core reservation, Pine 

Ridge, SD. The highest unemployment in the Nation is in Pine 

Ridge, SD. The highest suicide rate in the Nation, to my understanding, is also Pine Ridge, SD, where in some years, one out of 

every three girls has tried suicide before they got out of their teenage years, and one out of every four boys. 

There are many other places the same. Most of us recognize that 

dependency on the Federal Government has not worked. Otherwise, we would not have the highest high school dropout rate, the 

highest unemployment rate, the highest suicide rate, the highest 
48 

substance abuse rate. All the other devastating things that have 

happened to Indian people are 10 times worse than on the outside. 

You talk about an unemployment rate nationwide now of roughly 

9 percent. Try 70 or 80 or 90 percent in the cases of some Native 

Alaskan communities. In Pine Ridge, I believe it’s probably 70, 

maybe 80. Bill was a speaker at our little tribal college in Montana—Lame Deer, MT. It’s called Dull Knife Community College. 

The unemployment there is 78 percent in the winter—a little lower 

in the summer because some people, through their courage, get 

jobs fighting forest fires, and there’s a number of them that had 

firefighting experience over the years. 

But from a broader standpoint, most people recognize that education is the key, that if government dependency worked, why the 

heck are we in such bad shape now after 150 years of government 

dependency? There’s got to be an alternative, and that alternative, 

many of us believe, is education. Now, if you look at what’s happened to our youngsters who are getting out of college, whether it’s 

the University of Minnesota Morris, whether it’s Fort Lewis, 

whether it’s any institution in America—University of New Mexico, 

University of Arizona, Northern Arizona—they graduate many Native American students. 

Now they are productive people. They haven’t forgotten their old 

ways. They participate in their religions, beliefs, their ceremonies. 

They’ve really hung onto that, and I certainly commend them for 

that. But they’ve learned how to function in 21st century America 

in business, in medicine, in government, in literally every facet. 

Native Americans have the highest enlistment rate of any ethnic 

group in America in our military. That says something. 

It’s nice to know that after years and years of silence, the Navajo 

code talkers were, in the last 15 years, really recognized by the 

president. That was President Bush. Most Americans recognize the 

contribution they’ve made to keeping this country safe. There were 

also Comanche code talkers and Lakota code talkers and others, 

too. But we have paid our dues. 

I have a real close connection with Fort Lewis, because I was 

kind of an accidental politician. Before I ran for office, I taught 

part-time at Fort Lewis in the Art Department. Both of our youngsters graduated from Fort Lewis. My wife was on the board of 

trustees. We’ve had a really close relationship with it. And I have 

seen firsthand the benefits, that a good education helps not only 

Indian kids, but all youngsters. But because of the problem we 

have in Indian country, it’s helped, I believe, Indian youngsters 

even more. 

This bill, your bill, and the corresponding House bill, which has 

probably 8 or 10 co-sponsors on the House side now, as I understand it—it doesn’t answer all the problems. But it certainly alleviates some of the problems that the State of Colorado is having now 

paying for the deal that they signed 100 years ago. 

Lieutenant Governor Garcia mentioned—in some of my scribbling, if I can remember—that, in fact, the money that goes to Fort 

Lewis and the State comes from the financial aid fund. But that’s 

not the only money that comes out of the financial aid fund. And 

with every increase that the State financial aid fund must give to 

Fort Lewis pursuant to the deal with the Federal Government, 
49 

they have to decrease it to other colleges or to other entities that 

are also needed. 

And if you’ll give me a little latitude, let me just be the devil’s 

advocate and ask this rhetorical question. What happens if we 

don’t do something? What happens, since we have twice the national birth rate of the Federal numbers at large and, on some reservations, four times the national average? Many more Native 

American youngsters are being born. What happens when the 

roughly 300 Indian tribes that are now seeking Federal recognition 

get it? Many tribes, as you know, in our history, were taken away 

from them in the 1950s under the misguided actions of the Federal 

Government when they, by virtue of their wisdom in Washington, 

said to tribes, ‘‘You are no longer a tribe.’’ 

That was obviously a way to get out of the Federal Government’s 

responsibility to tribes because the old treaties weren’t signed between individual Indian people and the Federal Government. They 

were signed between tribes and the Federal Government. So some 

wise person back there said, ‘‘Oh, I’ll tell you what. What happens 

if we de-recognize the tribes and no longer recognize them as Federal entities? We don’t owe the Indians anything.’’ And that’s how 

they got out of a lot of the responsibilities of the old agreements 

and the old treaties. 

Well, that’s beginning to change. So, as I continue as the devil’s 

advocate, what happens when many of the tribes who are seeking 

recognition now are re-recognized and then can avail themselves of 

the tuition waivers at Fort Lewis or Minnesota Morris? What happens when the number that’s now, I think, roughly 850 Native 

American kids at Fort Lewis becomes 8,500 instead of 850? That 

is certainly in the realm of possibility if you look at the last 2 

years, where they’ve grown 10 percent per year, 10 percent last 

year and 10 percent this year, in the number of Native American 

youngsters, but also the corresponding amount of money the State 

of Colorado has to put in. 

Last year, it was $2 million more than the year before. This year, 

it’ll be $2 million more than last year, in other words, $4 million 

more just in the time that this bill has been moving around, people 

talking about it, trying to find a solution, and so on. It’s been several years, 3 years or so. It’s gone up to about a $4 million cost to 

the State of Colorado, and I don’t know how much to the State of 

Minnesota. 

We know that if we don’t do something, we’re on an unsustainable course somewhere along the line. Nobody wants to wait until 

that train wreck happens. Most of us believe we’ve got to take some 

kind of a positive action and do something before the fact so that 

we don’t get to that doomsday scenario, and that’s what this hearing is all about. 

I think that it is certainly incumbent on the Federal, since that 

was part of the deal. Nobody in those days knew that maybe six 

students would turn into 600, or some day in the future maybe 

6,000. So we think the Federal Government has some responsibility 

under what has been defined as the trust responsibility. 

I thank you for this hearing. I might also add that I chaired hundreds of hearings back there in the dozens of committees I was in-
50 

volved with. None of mine ever went this smooth. So you’ve got the 

right touch, I’ll tell you. 

Senator BENNET. Thank you for that. I want to just see if I can 

respond a little bit to what you said. First of all, on behalf of the 

committee, thank you for your leadership on this issue and also on 

issues that have been of concern to Native Americans over many 

years, and issues of concern to many people, whether Native Americans or not, all across the country. 

You’ve been respected and admired as a leader for many years, 

and I, for one, continue to appreciate your continued active involvement in all of this. I hope that you’ll let us know how we can move 

this forward. I’d like to get us to a place where we’re marking up 

the bill and we’re not just talking about it. 

To respond to your last point, I work in a town 4 days a week 

where people consistently let matters get worse before they’re actually addressed. And in this context, it seems that that would be 

enormously unfair to the students that are at Fort Lewis College 

today and to the students that are coming in the future. That’s why 

we have to get on with this, so let’s get this done. 

The other thing I want to respond to are your comments about 

education, because, unfortunately, these issues don’t receive the attention that they need in our national political debate. You can listen to this Presidential campaign that’s going on right now, and 

you wouldn’t think that education mattered very much at all to the 

American people, and it matters an incredible amount to the people 

that I represent. 

I mentioned earlier at the outset that the worst the unemployment rate ever got for people with a college degree in this recession 

was 4.5 percent. That’s the worst that it got. But if you’re a child 

living in poverty in the United States, your chances of getting a 

college degree are 9 in 100. We’ve heard testimony today that 

that’s even tougher in Indian country. 

If you take the changing demographics in the United States and 

just extrapolate those out over time, we know what those are going 

to be. It’s completely predictable. And if the achievement rates and 

the graduation rates and the college attendance and completion 

rates don’t change, we’re not going to recognize ourselves as an 

economy or as a democracy. 

I think this is the central question that we face in this land of 

opportunity. I can’t think of anything that is more at war with who 

we are as Americans than those college completion numbers and 

our high school graduation rates for children that are living in poverty, whether they’re living in Indian country or whether they’re 

not. 

We have to get after this, and we have to make this our single 

most important domestic priority. Otherwise, we’re going to continue to see income inequality rise. We’re going to continue to see 

opportunity shut off for millions of people in this country. 

Thank you for giving me that opportunity to say that. I want to 

thank all the witnesses who gave testimony today. I deeply appreciate your traveling here to do it. In addition to that great testimony, I also have a collection of resolutions and letters of support 

to introduce into the record at this hearing, which I will do now, 
51 

including the letter that the Lieutenant Governor referenced from 

our own Governor, John Hickenlooper. 

[The information referred to may be found in additional material.] 

Throughout this hearing, we’ve heard about the important role 

the tuition waiver program plays in the education of Native American students throughout the country. Moving forward, I hope that 

we can work together to preserve these tuition waiver programs 

while also providing some degree of budgetary relief to the States 

of Colorado and Minnesota. 

The hearing record will remain open for 10 working days for any 

additional questions or statements. Once again, I want to thank 

the witnesses for traveling here today. Thank all of you for your 

interest and for being here. 

And with that, the hearing is adjourned. 

[Additional material follows.] 
52 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF LEWIS WITTRY, VICE PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATED STUDENTS

OF FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Lewis Wittry and I 

am vice president of the student body at Fort Lewis College: 

I believe that Federal funding should be provided to support the Native American 

Tuition Waiver mandated by the Federal Government in 1911 because the conditions under which that agreement was made have changed dramatically since that 

time. The agreement was originally made that the State of Colorado would be granted the Old Fort Hesperus property on the condition that they would provide free 

tuition for all Native American students at a school on the site. At the time this 

was reasonable for the State because there was presumed to be only a handful of 

Native students to educate. In the 100 years since that agreement was made, an 

increasing amount of Native students have begun to take advantage of this opportunity for a free education. Today, Fort Lewis College’s native population consists 

of about 860 Native American students from a variety of different tribes across the 

country, an 85 percent majority of which are non-resident students who are receiving free tuition paid for by the State of Colorado, a total allocation of $13.7 million 

last year. While this means amazing things for the Native communities that are 

able to take advantage of this opportunity, it is a much bigger financial burden on 

the State budget than could ever have been foreseen at the time the original agreement was made. Since a large portion of Colorado taxpayer’s money is and has for 

the last 100 years been going to pay for the education of non-resident students, I 

believe that it is a reasonable request for the Federal Government to contribute a 

significant portion of the total cost of the waiver. State governments are supposed 

to provide resources for the residents of their State, and national governments are 

supposed to provide resources for the residents of the Nation at large. Since we are 

currently in a situation where the State of Colorado is providing a significant resource for students of the Nation at large, I think you should support the passage 

of S. 3504 to create a more fair situation where the State and Federal Government 

are providing for their fair share of the cost of educating Native American students 

across the country. 

In trying to formulate an opinion about this subject I kept coming back to the 

original agreement made in 1911 and what that meant about our State’s obligation 

to pay for the cost of the tuition waiver. For a while I had a very hard time getting 

behind this bill because I kept seeing it as a way for the State to shirk it’s responsibility to hold up its end of the agreement to educate Native students free of charge. 

And in some sense this is exactly what is being done. However, the more I looked 

at the original agreement made the more I began to think, ‘‘Well that’s just a terrible and unrealistic agreement by today’s standards, so we should just change the 

agreement.’’ It was explained to me later that this is not technically possible because the agreement was made in perpetuity. That is where this bill comes in. In 

light of the fact that we cannot change the original agreement made, I think this 

bill should be passed because it solves the problem without changing the agreement. 

Essentially this bill will still require that tuition-free education be provided for Native students at the two non-tribal, Native American serving institutions listed in 

the bill. However, added on to that agreement is the agreement that the Federal 

Government will help cover the increasing cost of this tuition waiver by providing 

the funds for all non-resident Native students up to $15 million. As I stated above, 

the circumstances around the tuition waiver have changed since 1911 and the original agreement no longer makes sense for the State of Colorado or the State of Minnesota. This is why we need to alter the agreement, and it seems to me that S. 3504 

is a reasonable way of doing that. 

The other reason I think this bill should be supported has little to do with any 

agreements made between State and country, but has more to do with the overall 

obligation I feel we as a country have to the Native American community. I was 

reading an article in our local newspaper sent to me by one of the administrators 

at our college regarding the tuition waiver at Fort Lewis College. A man quoted in 

the article put it very well when he talked about the tuition waiver as being one 

small victory in a long history of defeats for the Native American community. I 

think that he is right. We should not be allowing for this one small victory to be 

taken away from them, and it seems as though that is what might happen if the 

State is unable to receive help in funding the tuition waiver. For all of the horrors 

and subjugation that Native Americans have been put through since Europeans 

began to migrate to this land, I believe it is the moral responsibility of our country 

to make it possible to continue to honor one of the few trusts that has been made 
53 

1 U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011 Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates. 2 University of Minnesota-Morris, ‘‘American Indian Tuition Waiver and Student Success.’’ 

http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf. 3 Appropriations Act of April, 4, 1910, 36 Stat. 274. 

4 University of Minnesota-Morris, ‘‘American Indian Tuition Waiver and Student Success.’’ 

http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf. 

between the Native and non-native community. It has become an immense burden 

for our State to try and hold themselves to this agreement alone, and it is not a 

burden we should have to carry alone anymore. We are asking for help from the 

rest of the country so that we may continue to help the Native American community 

in this small way by offering them a free college education. A free education will 

by no means ever repay them for what their people have been and continue to be 

put through. However, it is at least a small trust that we have been engaged in for 

the last 101 years, and the mission of educating Native American students is one 

of the only sustainable ways to try and break the destructive cycle that the subjugation of their people has caused for their communities. 

Please try and see these bills not only from a purely budgetary and legally based 

standpoint, but also from a morally based standpoint. In forming my own opinion 

about this issue I have tried to ask myself, ‘‘Do these bills hold up according to previous legal agreements?’’ But I have also tried to ask myself, ‘‘Is it the right thing 

to do?’’ I go back and forth as to whether or not they hold up to the original agreement. However, I am firmly convinced that the passage of these bills is the right 

thing to do. I encourage you to think about these questions in your deliberations 

about where you stand. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS

INTRODUCTION

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the oldest and largest 

American Indian organization in the United States. Tribal leaders created NCAI in 

1944 as a response to termination and assimilation policies that threatened the existence of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. Since then, NCAI has fought 

to preserve the treaty rights and sovereign status of tribal governments, while also 

ensuring that Indian people may fully participate in the political system. As the 

most representative organization of American Indian tribes, NCAI serves the broad 

interests of tribal governments across the Nation. 

Ensuring access to higher education for American Indian and Alaska Native students is a top priority for tribes, and federally mandated Native tuition waivers at 

two institutions—Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, and University of MinnesotaMorris—play a vital role in making this important goal a reality. For the past 100 

years, both schools have provided tuition-free college education to American Indian 

and Alaska Native students. As a result, Fort Lewis College graduates some of the 

highest numbers of Native students per year in the country,1 and University of Minnesota-Morris enrolls more Native students than any other college in Minnesota.2

Despite this success, the waivers are at risk of being terminated due to severe State 

budget constraints. The Native American Education Act of 2012 (S. 3504) creates a 

Federal funding stream to ensure sustained support for these Native tuition waivers. Because the waivers have enabled thousands of Native students to become college graduates, and their continuance is critical to maintaining and growing that 

legacy, NCAI urges Congress to enact S. 3504 into law. 

BACKGROUND

The Native student tuition waivers stem from both institutions’ roots as Indian 

boarding schools. In 1911, Colorado accepted title to the Fort Lewis Indian School, 

previously operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior. In exchange for the 

6,279-acre property, the State agreed to maintain the school and admit Native students ‘‘free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with white pupils.’’ 3 University of Minnesota-Morris shares this history. When the Federal Government 

transferred the campus of Morris American Indian Boarding School to the State of 

Minnesota in 1909, it stipulated that ‘‘Indian pupils shall at all times be admitted 

to such school free of charge for tuition.’’ 4 Today, the waivers guarantee free tuition 

at either school to all qualified members of federally recognized tribes, regardless 

of State residency. 

Largely thanks to the tuition waiver, Fort Lewis College has become a flagship 

institution for American Indian and Alaska Native students. Native students com-
54 

5 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, College Navigator, Fort Lewis College (2010). 6Fort Lewis College, ‘‘Fact Sheet 2010.’’ http://explore.fortlewis.edu/images/FLClFacts.pdf. 7 U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011 Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates. 8 Elaine Simonds-Jaradat, ‘‘New Native American Garden Planted on the Morris Campus’’ 

(July 8, 2011): http://www.morris.umn.edu/newsevents/view.php?itemID=11784. 9 University of Minnesota-Morris, ‘‘American Indian Tuition Waiver and Student Success.’’ 

http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf. 10 Emery Cowan, ‘‘A Historic Promise.’’ Durango Herald (June 3, 2012): http:// 

www.durangoherald.com/article/20120603/NEWS01/706039897/0/FRONTPAGE/A-historicpromise. 11 University of Minnesota-Morris, ‘‘American Indian Tuition Waiver and Student Success.’’ 

http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf. 12 Emery Cowan, ‘‘Seeking Stability in FLC Tuition Waiver.’’ Durango Herald (June 4, 2012): 

http://durangoherald.com/article/20120605/NEWS01/706059914/0/s/Seeking-stability-inFLC-tuition-waiver. 13For example, see Colorado House bill 10–1067: http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/ 

CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/AD316F1CAE9F98BF872576A80026AF1B?Open&fil=1067l01 

.pdf. 14Fort Lewis College, ‘‘An Introduction to Federal Efforts to Protect the Native American Tuition Waiver.’’ http://www.fortlewis.edu/tuitionwaiver/Home.aspx. 

prise about 20 percent—or one in five—of the college’s 3,900-person student body,5

and in 2010, it enrolled approximately 800 Native students representing 122 tribes 

from 30 different States.6 Each year, Fort Lewis College awards some of the highest 

numbers of undergraduate degrees to Native students in the country.7

University of Minnesota-Morris has experienced similar success with Native students because of its tuition waiver. With a Native student population of more than 

10 percent, it is the only university in the upper Midwest that qualifies for designation as a Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institution.8 This large Native student body has enabled University of Minnesota-Morris to build a robust American 

Indian program and community, and consequently, the school’s graduation rates for 

Native students lead the University of Minnesota system.9

NEED FOR THE NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION ACT OF 2012 (S. 3504)

Funded entirely by each respective State, Fort Lewis College’s Native tuition 

waiver costs Colorado approximately $13 million per year,10 and the University of 

Minnesota-Morris waiver costs Minnesota about $1.5 million per year.11 However, 

shrinking State revenues as a result of the recession, coupled with rising Native enrollment, have made it increasingly untenable for these States to shoulder the cost 

of the waivers alone. At Fort Lewis College in particular, about 85 percent of the 

college’s Native population is from outside Colorado, which means that the State 

must reimburse the college at the nonresident tuition rate of $16,072 for those students.12 Since the majority of the waiver expense comes from these out-of-state students, there have been several attempts to significantly cut reimbursements by limiting the waiver to Native students who are Colorado residents and, even more drastically, to terminate the program altogether.13

Instead of reneging on a century-old contract and denying out-of-state Native students access to a quality, tuition-free college education, S. 3504 offers a better solution: shifting some of the waiver’s cost to the Federal Government and the country 

as a whole. Sharing this responsibility makes sense in light of the fact that the tuition waivers benefit Native students from every corner of the United States—in 

other words, they have become national programs. At Fort Lewis College, for example, the five tribes with the highest number of students enrolled in 2011 were not 

from Colorado, but were Navajo (Arizona), Cherokee (Oklahoma), Choctaw (Oklahoma), Tlingit/Haida (Alaska), and Chickasaw (Oklahoma).14 S. 3504 directs the 

Secretary of Education to reimburse Fort Lewis College and University of Minnesota-Morris for the tuition of these nonresident Native students. 

By putting the waivers on more stable financial ground, Federal funding through 

S. 3504 will help guarantee the programs’ continuance—as well as their tremendous 

benefits to Indian Country. The experience of NCAI’s executive director, Jacqueline 

Pata, attests to the transformative power of the Native student tuition waiver. 

Three of Ms. Pata’s four children attended Fort Lewis College. As a single parent 

with four kids just a few years apart in age—and who were thus ready to attend 

college at about the same time—college would have been out of the question for her 

family without the tuition waiver. With the large cost of tuition taken care of, they 

were able to find scholarships—from their tribe and other sources—to cover other 

expenses. Now that Ms. Pata’s children are grown and have graduated, they are 
55 

raising their own families and using their degrees to meaningfully contribute to 

their communities. 

The story of Ms. Pata’s family is not unique in Indian Country. The tuition waivers at Fort Lewis College and University of Minnesota-Morris have been a boon to 

thousands of Native students who could not otherwise afford higher education. But 

the waivers have had profound benefits not just for individual Native students, but 

also for American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. All around Indian Country, you 

will find Fort Lewis College and University of Minnesota-Morris alumni utilizing 

their college educations to improve tribal communities—as tribal leaders, teachers, 

entrepreneurs, lawyers, and engineers. As the statistics referenced above indicate, 

the tuition waivers have enabled Fort Lewis College and University of MinnesotaMorris to become a vital source of college graduates for tribes who need an educated 

citizenry to lead their governments, develop reservation economies, and sustain Native cultures. 

Furthermore, investing in the education of American Indian and Alaska Native 

students—and by extension, the capacity and well-being of tribes—is one of the 

most important cornerstones of the Federal trust responsibility. Supporting the Native tuition waivers through Federal funding in S. 3504 helps to fulfill this sacred 

duty. 

CONCLUSION

Because the Native tuition waivers at Fort Lewis College and University of Minnesota-Morris have played such a critical role in expanding access to higher education for Native students, NCAI urges Congress to pass S. 3504. 

Thank you for your consideration of this testimony. NCAI looks forward to 

partnering with the committee to move this important piece of legislation forward. 

If you have any questions, please contact Ahniwake Rose, NCAI director of Human 

Service Policy, at arose@ncai.org. 

LETTERS OF SUPPORT

STATE OF COLORADO, 

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, 

DENVER, CO 80203, 

August 17, 2012. 

Hon. MICHAEL BENNET, 

458 Russell Senate Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20510. 

DEAR SENATOR BENNET: On behalf of the State of Colorado, we offer our support 

of two pieces of pending Federal legislation, S. 3504 and its companion, H.R. 3040. 

These bills represent a prudent legislative effort that will enhance educational opportunities in Indian Country and Colorado, as well as similarly impacted States. 

In 1910, the U.S. Congress created a unique connection between Fort Lewis College and Indian Country by giving the State of Colorado title to over 6,200 acres 

located in the southwest corner of Colorado that was being operated as a military 

fort and an Indian boarding school under the U.S. Department of the Interior, on 

condition that the school be ‘‘held and maintained by Colorado as a school where 

Indians are admitted free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with white 

pupils’’ (Act of April 4, 1910, 36 Stat. 274). 

The tuition waiver program funded by the State of Colorado has enabled many 

American Indian and Alaska Native students to have high-quality educational opportunities that they might not otherwise have been able to access. One hundred 

years ago, the originators of this agreement had no way to anticipate how this Federal mandate in perpetuity would affect the State of Colorado a century later, particularly with the advent of modern day transportation. The once desolate military 

fort on the border of what then were the ‘‘Territories’’ and are now more commonly 

referred to as the States of New Mexico and Arizona, would place southwestern Colorado in a central location to Indian Country. Today the College is located within 

a 150-mile radius of 25 Indian reservations or Pueblos, making it an accessible and 

affordable option to many students in Indian Country. At the time of the 1910 

agreement, Indian students at Fort Lewis numbered in the single digits. The composition of the fall 2011 class numbered 860 American Indian and Alaska Native 

students, 725 of which represent 138 different tribes and 35 States outside of Colorado. 

For the past 100 years, Colorado has had the unique distinction of supporting 

high-quality educational opportunities in Indian Country and far surpassing the ex-
56 

pectations set forth in the original agreement. Indeed, Fort Lewis College awards 

more undergraduate degrees to American Indian and Alaska Native students than 

any other 4-year institution in the Nation, graduates approximately 16 percent of 

all American Indian and Alaska Native students nationally, and last year awarded 

13.5 percent of all baccalaureate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

(STEM) degrees earned by American Indian students (NSF WebCaspar). 

Today, many do not realize that despite the economic success of a small handful 

of tribes, American Indians still face poverty rates, substance abuse rates, suicide 

rates and teenage birth rates that far exceed the national average. The unemployment rate on many Indian reservations still far exceeds 50 percent. The key to ending this cycle is education, and Colorado is proud of our efforts to enhance educational opportunities for Native Americans; we simply need some assistance in carrying out this tremendously successful national program. To that end, I thank Senator Michael Bennet and Congressman Scott Tipton for their leadership, and the entire Colorado congressional delegation, as well as many Members of Congress for 

their support of this effort. 

S. 3504 and H.R. 3040 have my full support and endorsement, and I request that 

Congress assist in funding the Federal mandate upon the State of Colorado for reimbursement of the out-of-state students in Fort Lewis College Native American tuition Waiver program so that the program may be maintained for the continued betterment of all American Indian and Alaska Native people. It is the right thing to 

do. 

Sincerely, 

JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER, 

Governor. 

STATE OF COLORADO, DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION, 

COLORADO COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION, 

DENVER, CO 80202, 

August 17, 2012. 

Hon. MICHAEL F. BENNET, 

458 Russell Senate Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20510. 

DEAR SENATOR BENNET: The Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) 

is writing to express our board’s support of the Federal legislation which aims to 

fund a portion of the cost for American Indian students attending Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. The CCHE is the central policy and statewide coordinating 

board for higher education in Colorado overseeing 31 public institutions of higher 

education. The CCHE embraces and supports all of these institutions as well as 

their unique role and mission in providing a quality post-secondary education in the 

State. Fort Lewis College is unique not only to Colorado but to the Nation in being 

one of only two public institutions of higher education (University of Minnesota— 

Morris as the other) with the specific duty of serving and educating American Indians students as part of its overall role and mission. 

Given Colorado’s State budgetary challenges, the cost for the Fort Lewis College 

Native American Tuition Waiver has been typically covered by reducing funding to 

the State’s other financial aid programs. The transfers of funding from existing programs reduces the availability of financial aid to qualifying American Indian students—over 80 percent of all American Indian enrollments in the public system of 

higher education in Colorado are in institutions other than Fort Lewis College—as 

well as other students attending other institutions of higher education in Colorado. 

The CCHE believes that the current prospects of some Federal funding to mitigate these costs at the State level are an effective and reasonable course of action 

that will provide a financially sustainable solution to help ensure that Fort Lewis 

College remains accessible to all American Indian students from all regions of the 

country. The CCHE reiterates its strong support of Fort Lewis College and celebrates its ever increasing success in educating American Indian students across the 

Nation. 

Sincerely, 

HEREFORD PERCY, Chairman, 

Colorado Commission on Higher Education. 
57 

CHEROKEE NATIONTM, 

TAHLEQUAH, OK 74465–0948, 

May 11, 2011. 

Hon. DALE KILDEE, Co-Chairman, 

House Native American Caucus. 

Hon. TOM COLE, Co-Chairman, 

House Native American Caucus. 

Re: Support for Fort Lewis College Legislation 

DEAR CHAIRMAN KILDEE AND CHAIRMAN COLE: On behalf of the Cherokee Nation, 

I am writing to express our support for the proposed legislation offered by Congressman Tipton for the Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver Program. 

For the past century, the institution has provided Native Americans who qualify 

with tuition-free education as mandated by the U.S. Congress. By covering tuition 

costs for Native American students, the State of Colorado has given tribal citizens 

access to a first-rate education and opportunity for success. 

Because the Colorado school currently provides higher education to Native American students from 124 different tribes (including the Cherokee Nation) and 34 

States, Cherokee students would also be affected by funding cuts to the program. 

If this legislation does not pass, Colorado leaders might try again to cut the Native 

tuition waiver program due to State budget constraints. As introduced, the Tipton 

bill would use Federal dollars to reimburse Colorado for the cost of out-of-state Native American students’ tuition—helping to guarantee that all qualified Native 

American students receive tuition waivers regardless of State residence. 

Therefore, this Bill is especially pertinent to the Cherokee Nation because many 

of our students at Fort Lewis are from out-of-state and need the funding protection 

guaranteed by this legislation: 

• Over the past 10 years, 1,179 free tuition waivers were granted to members of 

the Cherokee Nation, of which only 449 were Colorado residents. 

• On average, 118 tuition waivers are granted per year to members of the Cherokee Nation. 

• The average GPA for Cherokee Nation students is 3.20. 

• 38 percent of Cherokee Nation students graduated with honors (Cum Laude, 

Magna Cum Laude, or Summa Cum Laude). 

• 29 percent of Cherokee Nation graduates were first-generation college students, 

meaning neither parent attended college. 

I respectfully urge that Congress fully fund the State of Colorado’s Federal mandate for reimbursement of the Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver 

Program so that our tribal citizens and children will continue to receive a first-class 

education. Tribes have witnessed disparities in Native American education services 

for too long; therefore, we must protect successful institutions like Fort Lewis College. 

Once again, it is my desire that you support Congressman Tipton’s legislation and 

stand with the Cherokee Nation by promoting Native American education. Educated 

Americans, including tribal citizens, strengthen the United States by providing a 

skilled, diversified workforce that fuels the economy. For further information, please 

contact our Washington Office Legislative Officer, Clint Bowers, at 202–393–7007 

or at clint-bowers@cherokee.org. 

Sincerely, 

CHAD SMITH, 

Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation. 

STATE OF COLORADO, 

COLORADO COMMISSION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, 

DENVER, CO 80203, 

May 9, 2011. 

President DENE KAY THOMAS, 

Fort Lewis College, 

1000 Rim Drive, 

Durango, CO 81301. 

DEAR PRESIDENT THOMAS: The U.S. Congress created in 1910 a unique connection 

between Fort Lewis College and Indian Country by giving the State of Colorado title 

to the Fort Lewis Indian School, previously operated by the U.S. Department of the 

Interior, on condition that the school be ‘‘held and maintained’’ by Colorado as a 
58 

school where Indians are admitted ‘‘free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with white pupils’’ (Appropriations Act of April 4, 1910, 36 Stat. 274). 

Today Fort Lewis College is Colorado’s Public Liberal Arts College that has for 

the past 100 years provided a tuition-free education to qualifying American Indian 

and Alaska Native students and was the educational home to 786 American Indian 

and Alaska Native students from 124 tribes and 34 States in 2010. 

The State of Colorado has for the past 100 years had the distinction of supporting 

one of only two colleges in the Nation that offers American Indian and Alaska Native students from any federally recognized tribe a tuition waiver and, in fall 2010, 

has provided the tuition for 668 of its 786 American Indian and Alaska Native students who are residents from 33 other States. 

Fort Lewis College awards more undergraduate degrees to American Indian and 

Alaska Native students than any other 4-year institution in the Nation, graduates 

approximately 16 percent of all American Indian and Alaska Native students nationally, and last year awarded 13.5 percent of all baccalaureate science, technology, 

engineering and math (STEM) degrees earned by Indian people (NSF WebCASPAR 

2009). 

The Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver has enabled American 

Indian and Alaska Native students to access top-quality educational opportunities 

and academic success, which they might not otherwise have been able to enjoy, and 

these many students have used this education provided for the betterment of their 

tribes and Indian Country as a whole (indeed, many of today’s Indian leaders are 

Fort Lewis College graduates or have a Fort Lewis student or alumni in their family). 

Nothing in Senate bill 484 would relieve Colorado of its responsibility to reimburse Fort Lewis College the cost of tuition for American Indian and Alaska Native 

students who are residents of Colorado or any cost of tuition that exceeds the Federal funding proposed in S. 484 for American Indian and Alaska Native students 

who are not residents of Colorado. 

Therefore, the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, which includes representatives from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe as voting 

members, does unanimously support Senate bill 484 and request that Congress fund 

the Federal mandate upon the State of Colorado for reimbursement of the Fort 

Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver program so that this program may 

be maintained for the continued betterment of all American Indian and Alaska Native people. 

Sincerely, 

JOSEPH A. GARCIA, Lieutenant Governor, 

Chair, Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs. 

NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND, 

BOULDER, CO 80302–6296, 

April 20, 2011. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: As executive director of the Native American Rights 

Fund, I have met with representatives of Fort Lewis College about S. 484, a bill 

sponsored by Senators Bennet and Udall of Colorado, which would direct the Secretary of the Department of Education to pay the Fort Lewis College in the State 

of Colorado an amount equal to the tuition charges for Indian students who are not 

residents of the State of Colorado. The Native American Rights Fund is in full support of S. 484 and hopes that it is passed by Congress and signed by the President 

as soon as possible. 

The Native American Rights Fund, having been involved in the litigation in the 

1970s enforcing the Indian tuition waiver, is aware of the importance of the Indian 

tuition waiver to Indian students across the country and the outstanding record of 

Fort Lewis College in graduating Indian students over the years. We believe that 

the Indian tuition waiver needs to be continued and that Federal funding for Fort 

Lewis College to cover tuition charges for non-resident Indian students as provided 

in S. 484 would ensure that the Indian tuition waiver continues. 

Sincerely, 

JOHN E. ECHOHAWK. 
59 

Hon. MICHAEL BENNET, 

U.S. Senate, 

458 Russell Senate Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20510. 

Re: S. 484 & S. 3504 

DEAR SENATOR BENNET: The Native American Tuition Waiver is definitely a controversial issue, and I feel it necessary to express my sentiments. 

I am a non-traditional, first-generation, Native American student. I come from a 

small community in Southeast Alaska where most of my friends and peers are Alaskan Native. I grew up where my cultural values were a solid, integrated part of my 

life; where higher education was not necessarily an expectation. I say this only to 

prove the necessity of the Native American Tuition Waiver, particularly at Fort 

Lewis College. 

Generations of Native American students are still willing to further their education because of their homelands and families; these students want to make a difference. They represent a significant part of not only our history, but of our future. 

The Native American Tuition Waiver serves more than just a few purposes. Perhaps one of the greatest purposes that goes overlooked is that it brings us together. 

For those of us who wish to further our education and have an impact in life, having 

other like-minded people with similar life experiences only serves to benefit our educational goals. At Fort Lewis College, 120 different tribes, villages, bands, and corporations are represented. This allows us to be diverse, yet similar. Our Native 

American population adds a great dimension to the diversity at our school. 

At Fort Lewis College, the Native American Center offers itself as an excellent 

resource for any campus needs. With several first-generation students, they are 

there to offer academic support as well as cultural, and social. This is yet one more 

reason to reiterate the necessity of Native American Tuition Waiver. It is bringing 

minority students together and allowing us to succeed. 

American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) and American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) have both won awards for Fort Lewis College; Wanbli 

Ota, who puts on the largest student run event every year for our campus, and Miss 

Hozhoni who serves as an ambassador for the Native American students highlight 

meaningful pieces of our Native American student body. The Native American 

Honor Society, Pejuta Tipi Society, and Native American and Indigenous Leadership 

Forum (NAILF) are all great initiatives taken by our successful Native American 

students who want to make a difference. 

Looking at the poverty statistics and the drop-out rates of American Indian and 

Alaskan Native students can be heart-wrenching as an indigenous person. Because 

of the Native American Tuition Waiver I have been a successful student at Fort 

Lewis College. 

I support the continuation of the Native American Tuition Waiver. 

Sincerely, 

ALYSHA GUTHRIE. 

AUGUST 16, 2012. 

Hon. MICHAEL BENNET, 

U.S. Senate, 

458 Russell Senate Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20510. 

Re: S. 484 & S. 3504 

Da Go Te GREETINGS SENATOR BENNET: Fort Lewis College is more than an institute of Higher Education; it’s a place of hope for many American Indian students. 

Historically this institute represented a State of civilizing the Indian by washing the 

students of their traditional cultures. Fortunately over time great efforts have been 

made and continue to be implemented so that all individual backgrounds, beliefs 

and lifestyles are respected. The tuition waiver for Native Americans at Fort Lewis 

College has provided generations of American Indians to succeed and for many it 

may not have been possible without the unique opportunity promised by the agreement between our Indigenous ancestors and the U.S. Government. 

According to social psychologist and Native American scholar, Dr. Fryberg, only 

.4 percent of doctoral degrees are awarded to American Indians and only .5 percent 

of university faculty are American Indian (Fryberg & Stephens, 2010). This study 

goes on to state that if students have the ability to bring positive academic social 

representations to mind (i.e., people they know who went to college) it impacts their 

feelings of belonging. 
60 

At Fort Lewis College, I have experienced positive feelings of belonging and enhanced self-esteem because the environment encourages individuality and interdependency, as well as diversity. I would credit this positive change to my fellow 

colleagues and classmates, the faculty and professors as well as the administrators. 

In order to learn one must feel safe. I am a senior majoring in psychology with 

a minor in Native American Indigenous Studies. My tribes are White Mountain 

Apache and San Carlos Apache from Arizona. In my research of Native American 

historical trauma and compassion, I have come to the conclusion that when the 

brain, spirit, and body experience trauma they cannot learn until they feel safe 

again. Coming from a reservation of despair; staggering unemployment, suicide, and 

teen pregnancy rates, there is little hope. When I left home for college I did not realize how my experiences would bring a new perspective in the classroom and help 

‘‘outsiders’’ understand. I also didn’t understand that I needed to feel safe in order 

to express, share, and learn. Fortunately my professors and classmates provide a 

culture on campus that allows for reciprocal learning. 

I have had incredible opportunities to share my stories and Apache culture with 

the outside world. I have been blessed to have the support system from departments, faculty, students and mentors. The campus has allowed for many students 

to feel safe and comfortable with who they are and where they come from. Personally, I have found hope and it gives me courage. Courage to take advantage of opportunities offered at Fort Lewis. A few experiences stand out; after being elected 

a student senator (ASFLC 2010–11) I had the privilege of writing the resolution, 

‘‘Striving for Common Ground,’’ which promotes open-mindedness of all backgrounds. This passed during the centennial year of Fort Lewis College, 1911–11. I 

have also been blessed to meet with a political activist and Tibetan nun. Her friends 

invited me to speak annually at a Tibetan camp in New York where I share my 

Apache language, tradition and culture. I share the message of my elders; we need 

to balance ones American identity and ones Indigenous identity in order to sustain 

who we are. I love the simple yet powerful statement, I am because we are. I have 

been blessed to be a research assistant for an NIH (National Institute of Health) 

grant that allows me to study Native American Historical trauma and compassion. 

This grant has prepared me for graduate school and the hopes of becoming the first 

social psychologist with a doctorate of my tribe. I also plan to become the first Native American professor in the psychology department at Fort Lewis College. All of 

these experiences would not have been possible without the fabric of people, the tuition waiver, and the environment at Fort Lewis College. 

Support and encouragement of students is seen and heard throughout Indian 

country. Our elders, leaders and family members tell us to use education as a way 

of being successful and more importantly as a way to help our families, clan kinship, 

and tribal communities. In order to prepare for the next generation, Indigenous students must honor their responsibilities and create positive relationships with American education systems. Traditionally college is a place for white students to find 

themselves and express their independence and individuality. This tends to be different for most Indigenous students because most tribes and clanship exist on interdependent relationships. For Natives like myself, college is a time when we leave 

our reservations, and interact in an entirely different social context. Statistically the 

odds may be against me and yet I feel hopeful and motivated every semester. 

As I approach my senior year, I look back on my time at Fort Lewis and have 

feelings of gratitude and hope. I am grateful for the many opportunities that only 

a unique place like Fort Lewis can offer both Native and non-Native students. Students like me that identify as a single parent raising my two sisters; as a first generation college student; as an Apache woman; as a Native American determined to 

make a positive difference in her community. I am also incredibly grateful to my 

Indigenous ancestors that prepared for my future. The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes committed an act of complete selflessness when they humbly requested that in return for their ancestral lands the U.S. Government must allow 

all Indian students to attend tuition waivered and to be treated equal to their white 

pupils. I honor this sacred trust by sharing my experiences at Fort Lewis and by 

identifying as a proud Native American student and soon to be alumni. 

Ashook. Thank you for your time, 

NOEL ALTAHA, 

White Mountain Apache Tribe, 

Class of 2013. 
61 

REFERENCE

Fryberg, S.A., & Stephens, N.M. (2010). When the world is colorblind, American Indians are invisible: A diversity science approach. Psychological Inquiry, 21, 115– 

119. doi: 10.1080/1047840X.2010.483847. 

Rank Order of States With the Highest Number of American Indian 

Tuition Waiver Recipients From 2000–2010 

State Number of tuition waivers received 

New Mexico ......................................................... 4,163 

Arizona ................................................................ 3,205 

Colorado .............................................................. 2,513 

Alaska ................................................................. 1,449 

Oklahoma ............................................................ 1,014 

Utah .................................................................... 368 

South Dakota ...................................................... 249 

California ............................................................ 230 

Texas ................................................................... 227 

Washington ......................................................... 222 

Montana .............................................................. 125 

Nevada ................................................................ 97 

Wyoming .............................................................. 92 

Oregon ................................................................. 76 

Kansas ................................................................ 65 

Idaho ................................................................... 63 

Nebraska ............................................................. 58 

Wisconsin ............................................................ 54 

Missouri .............................................................. 49 

Virginia ............................................................... 45 

Minnesota ........................................................... 39 

North Carolina .................................................... 38 

North Dakota ....................................................... 33 

Illinois ................................................................. 32 

Arkansas ............................................................. 30 

Ohio ..................................................................... 26 

New York ............................................................. 23 

Massachusetts .................................................... 22 

Michigan ............................................................. 21 

Tennessee ........................................................... 21 

Grand Total ................................................ 14,763
62 

RESOLUTIONS
63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 

[Whereupon, at 10:47 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

Æ