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S. HRG. 113–486 

INDIAN EDUCATION SERIES: EXAMINING HIGHER 

EDUCATION FOR AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JUNE 11, 2014 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

JON TESTER, Montana, Chairman 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Vice Chairman 

TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

MARY J. PAVEL, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

RHONDA HARJO, Minority Deputy Chief Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on June 11, 2014 ............................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Barrasso ............................................................................... 2 

Statement of Senator Franken ............................................................................... 14 

Statement of Senator Heitkamp ............................................................................. 19 

Statement of Senator Johnson ................................................................................ 4 

Statement of Senator Murkowski ........................................................................... 4 

Statement of Senator Tester ................................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Udall .................................................................................... 2 

WITNESSES

Crazy Bull, Cheryl, President/CEO, American Indian College Fund .................. 28 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 

Kipp, Billie Jo, President, Blackfeet Community College .................................... 21 

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

Monette, Melvin, Director of Graduate Fellowships, American Indian Graduate Center ........................................................................................................... 37 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38 

Purce, Thomas ‘‘Les’’, President, Evergreen State College .................................. 33 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 

Studley, Jamienne, Deputy Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education ... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7 

APPENDIX

George, Maggie L. Ph.D., President of Dine ́ College, prepared statement ......... 48 

National Indian Education Association (NIEA), prepared statement ................. 45 

Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Jon Tester to Jamienne 

Studley .................................................................................................................. 60 

Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to: 

Cheryl Crazy Bull ............................................................................................. 55 

Billie Jo Kipp .................................................................................................... 64 

Thomas ‘‘Les’’ Purce ......................................................................................... 57 

Jamienne Studley ............................................................................................. 63 

Short Bull Gerth, Lisa, Graduate Student, Montana State University, prepared statement ................................................................................................... 52 

(1) 

INDIAN EDUCATION SERIES: EXAMINING 

HIGHER EDUCATION FOR AMERICAN 

INDIAN STUDENTS 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m. in room 

628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jon Tester, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA 

The CHAIRMAN. I will call the Committee to order. 

The purpose of this oversight hearing today on Indian higher 

education is to receive testimony that will help us evaluate Federal 

programs for Native college students and identify what legislative 

or administrative changes are needed. This hearing is timely as the 

Senate is considering legislation on student loan repayment. 

There is no doubt that Indian higher education has come a long 

way over the past 30 years. Native enrollment in colleges and universities has more than doubled, and so has the number of degrees 

earned. However, American Indians are still less likely to attend 

a four-year institution than other U.S. ethnic groups. Native graduation and persistent rates are also disproportionately low. 

Our dialogue today builds on the three hearings the Committee 

has held this year on Indian Education. And as many of you know, 

a major challenge with Indian higher education has to do with precollege factors. We are not just talking about low scores on college 

admissions tests or low completion of high school course requirements. The fact is that we are losing a good portion of Indian students before they graduate from high school. And that has to do 

with a lack of qualified Native educators, lack of culturally-relevant 

curriculum, poverty, family challenges. These are all issues the 

Committee will be looking at in coming weeks and months as we 

identify a path forward. Because it is my belief that all Native children should have the option of going to college. It is clearly not the 

case right now. 

Today we will look superficially at what kind of support Native 

college students are receiving and what improvements need to be 

made. First, we will hear from the Department of Education, which 

is responsible for providing grants to Native-serving post-secondary 

2 

institutions. Many of those are non-tribal institutions which are attended by about 90 percent of the American Indian students. 

The Department is also responsible for carrying out the President’s executive order on strengthening tribal colleges and universities. 

We will receive testimony from others, including Evergreen State 

College, which Senator Cantwell talked about a moment ago. We 

will also hear from the American Indian College Fund and the 

American Indian Graduate Center. I would like to extend a special 

welcome to Billie Jo Kipp, who is President of the Blackfeet Community College up in Blackfeet Country, which is one of the seven 

tribal colleges from my home State of Montana. 

Across this Country, there are about 37 tribal colleges and universities serving about 30,000 Native students. I have long believed 

that tribal colleges are integral and essential to the communities. 

They prepare students to succeed in a wide range of careers. They 

provide access to higher education for many people in remote locations who otherwise would not be able to afford to attend college. 

So I am looking forward to hearing recommendations for ways 

that we can help them continue to do great work and improve upon 

that work. With that, I want to thank our witnesses for joining us 

today and turn it over to Senator Barrasso for his opening statement. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING 

Senator BARRASSO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this 

hearing. I appreciate all the comments you made. We need to examine today higher education for Indian students. Education is a 

significant pathway to success. For many Indian students, the opportunities may be few, the challenges may be many. According to 

the Department of Education, fewer than 13 percent of American 

Indian and Alaska Natives earned a college degree compared to 28 

percent of other populations. The 13 percent figure needs to 

change, so I will look forward to hearing from our witnesses on improving higher education opportunities. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Barrasso. 

Do any of the other members have opening statements? 

Senator Udall. I have a short opening statement. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Udall. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO 

Senator UDALL. Thank you, Chairman Tester. 

And Chairman Tester, I want to thank you for these important 

hearings on Indian education. I think this is a very important discussion to have. We clearly have a trust responsibility to support 

opportunities for Native Americans and Alaska Natives. 

Education, it seems to me, is the key for tribal leadership, for 

healthy communities and for economic prosperity. We need to do all 

we can for strong tribal schools and for Indian students to move 

forward into college and the graduate level and in public and private schools. Higher education is one of the best investments we 

3 

can make as a Nation in our future and also an investment by students and their families. This is really a commitment of time, of 

hard work and money. 

We know the challenges. Half of Indian students drop out of high 

school. Today’s hearing will focus on higher education. But I am 

glad the Committee, under the Chairman’s leadership, is looking 

across the educational spectrum to increase success for students at 

all levels. TCUs are chronically underfunded, but they are rising to 

the challenge by increasing the number and type of degrees they 

offer by developing more programs to prepare Native American students to be teachers, health care providers, engineers and business 

leaders. They are doing all they can and we need to do all we can 

to help them. 

I have introduced the BUILD Act, a bill to improve tribal education, including reauthorization of the Esther Martinez Act, 

strengthening language and culturally-based learning and better 

funding for tribal schools. I have also supported legislation introduced by Senator Tester and I am pleased to work together to 

make these bills as strong as possible. 

Resources are scarce and needs are great. Higher education 

should offer the best value, the best opportunity and the best investments, so that all our students, Indian and non-Indian, can 

take full advantage of that, so that it is truly a ladder up for economic development, for jobs and career opportunities and with and 

for tribal communities. 

I would also like to welcome Mr. Melvin Monette from New Mexico. I see Melvin out there in the audience. I know he is on the second panel. Mr. Monette is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band 

of Chippewa Indians. He directs the graduate fellowship and special programs at the American Indian Graduate Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mr. Monette is a strong advocate in finding 

and networking resources for American Indian and Alaska Native 

students and families in higher education. He serves on the board 

of the National Indian Education Association and founded the National Coalition of Advancement of Natives in Higher Education. 

He has also served as an ambassador of the Gates Millennium 

Scholars program and lead trainer. Mr. Monette has a B.S. in elementary education and an M.S. in educational leadership from the 

University of North Dakota. 

I would like to say a word about the American Indian Graduate 

Center. Not everyone may know about this great organization. 

AIGC is the oldest and largest provider of graduate and professional student scholarship services in the United States. The AIGC 

also administers the Gates Millennium Scholar Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives. 

We talk about the importance of developing capacity for leadership in governance, both for tribes and others. This is the core 

value of the AIGC, and they are doing great work. 

Welcome, Mr. Monette, and thank you and all the panelists for 

coming today. I have other pressing business, so I am going to try 

to be back here for as much testimony as possible. But I really 

thank you, Chairman Tester, and Vice Chairman Barrasso, for 

pushing out on higher education. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Udall. 

4 

Senator Murkowski? 

STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA 

Senator MURKOWSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Just very briefly, Senator Heitkamp and I are working to advance the proposition of the Native Children’s Commission focused 

on those factors that are holding back our Native American and 

Alaska Native children. When I think about the successes that I 

see in my State with Alaska Native children and how they have 

moved on, going beyond the multitude of risk factors that face 

them, I can cite almost exclusively to the education opportunities 

that have been made available to them. 

In the past 40 some odd years, we have seen a real transition 

in Alaska, as the strength of our Native corporations has come on 

and as students have opportunities presented to them for scholarships to attend college. As we all know, the daunting cost of a college education can be something that for many children, and most 

particularly minorities and our Native American kids and our Alaska Native kids, college was just not something that they could even 

consider because of the costs associated. So what we are seeing is 

truly a new generation, a young generation of young people that 

are coming back to the State, having been educated outside or attending the institutions within the State of Alaska, whether it is 

the University of Alaska system, whether it is Ilisagvik College up 

in Barrow. 

But having the opportunity for an even footing, because they now 

have the ability to afford that higher education. We are seeing the 

difference in our young Native leadership. It is transformative. So 

when I think about the ways that we can bring our kids out, leave 

those risk factors as much as possible behind, it is going to be 

through education. So I appreciate the focus that you are giving 

this today, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Murkowski. 

Senator Johnson? 

STATEMENT OF HON. TIM JOHNSON, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 

Senator JOHNSON. Thank you, Chairman Tester, for holding this 

important hearing to examine higher education for Native American students. I would like to give a very warm welcome to a fellow 

South Dakotan, Cheryl Crazy Bull, President of the American Indian College Fund. Your hard work, Cheryl, for Native American 

students has been outstanding throughout the years, and I thank 

you for sharing your testimony with us today. 

All too often, the Federal Government comes up short in meetings its treaty responsibilities to provide Native education. Our 

education for Native Americans must be available to those who are 

qualified to attend, not just those who can afford to attend. Statistics have shown that there is a grave disparity between Native and 

non-Native students. Native students are more likely to be first 

generation students and are less likely to graduate. We must increase our support of Native American students in their endeavors 

to achieve the next level of education for those investing in their 

5 

own futures and for those investing in the prosperity of their 

tribes. 

I hope that today’s hearing will find solutions to ensure that Native students are being provided with the additional support to pursue higher education. I look forward to the testimony today. Thank 

you again, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Johnson. I would now like 

to welcome our first panel, which consists of Jamienne Studley. 

Jamienne is the Deputy Under Secretary of the Department of 

Education. It is good to have you here. We will try to hold you to 

five minutes on your verbal testimony. Your entire written testimony will be a part of the record. 

Thanks for being here. 

STATEMENT OF JAMIENNE STUDLEY, DEPUTY UNDER 

SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Ms. STUDLEY. Thank you very much and good afternoon, Chairman Tester, Senator Barrasso and Committee members. My name 

is Jamienne Studley and I am Deputy Under Secretary at the U.S. 

Department of Education. 

I appreciate the opportunity to testify today about the Administration’s work to expand education opportunities and to approve 

outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native students in higher education. This is an important issue for the Nation and for this 

Administration and we welcome your attention. 

Indeed, the President will make his second trip to Indian country 

this Friday, visiting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota to announce additional steps to support education and employment. As you know, the President established the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, which is 

housed in the Department of Education’s Office of the Under Secretary. Among its functions are enhancing opportunities for AI/AN 

students to learn their Native languages, cultures, histories and to 

help students prepare for college and careers, just along the lines 

you have all mentioned. 

With respect to post-secondary education, the Initiative promotes 

education reforms that have shown success at enabling AI/AN students to acquire a rigorous and well-rounded education, to increase 

their access to support services, to reduce dropout rates and to increase college completion and access by strengthening the capacity 

of post-secondary institutions , including tribal colleges and universities. 

So how well are AI/AN students doing in high school to become 

prepared for college? According to the Census Bureau’s American 

Community Survey, AI/AN students dropped out of high school at 

more than twice the rate for White students in 2011. We know that 

AI/AN students tend to have less access to rigorous course work in 

high school, compared to other racial and ethnic groups. That is not 

their fault. That is the situation that we collectively have offered 

them. 

What about outcomes for those beyond high school? According to 

2013 Census Bureau data, 60 percent of Asians and 40 percent of 

White 25 to 29 year olds hold baccalaureate degrees, compared 

with just 17 percent of AI/AN young adults. To accomplish the 

6 

President’s goal to be first in the world in college graduation, we 

estimate that we need an additional 112,000 AI/AN students to 

complete college by 2020, and we need to help them. 

Some of the Department’s programs specifically serve AI/AN students. The Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Program 

provides $53 million in funding to support 68 projects across 13 

states, serving 19,000 students, with funds supporting academic 

and faculty development, teacher preparation, outreach and counseling services and facilities improvements. 

The Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving 

Institutions program also provides grants, in this case to eligible 

institutions of higher education, to enable them to enhance their 

ability to serve these populations. In fiscal year 2014, $26.5 million 

will support 30 grants and 14 new awards. 

It is important to note that about 90 percent of AI/AN post-secondary students attend institutions of higher education that are 

not tribally controlled. These include Native American-serving nontribal institutions, to which Congress provided $7.8 million in fiscal 

year 2014, through a program that will support 19 grants, each 

averaging about $400,000. 

We also have a special program for tribally-controlled post-secondary career and technical institutions that supports the Navajo 

Technical University in New Mexico and United Tribes Technical 

College in North Dakota. These institutions are eligible for a share 

of almost $8 million. 

I have invested a good part of my career advocating and working 

for individuals to help increase their access to education, to ensure 

that they can succeed. What truly makes a difference is the ability 

to pursue higher education. College has long represented the surest 

route to opportunity. But high costs stymie many students. And we 

know that nearly half of all students who begin college will never 

finish. 

I am particularly proud of the work this Administration is doing 

to make college more affordable, accessible, performance-oriented 

and centered on better informed student decisions. We want to 

make clear, transparent information on college performance readily 

available through tools like the College Scorecard and Financial 

Aid Shopping Sheet. 

We fought for higher Pell Grant funding and increased the Pell 

maximum award by more than $900 to a total of $5,730, providing 

grants to an additional 3 million students. The number of AI/AN 

students receiving Pell grants increased from about 63,000 in 

2008–2009 to more than 112,000 in 2011–2012. And we are helping 

more borrowers manage their debt through the Pay As You Earn 

proposal that caps student loan payments at 10 percent of monthly 

income. 

We appreciate your support for the First In The World Fund in 

this fiscal year, 2014. And we have done a great deal of outreach 

to tribal colleges and other minority-serving institutions to encourage their applications in this first round, which includes a setaside 

of up to $20 million for minority-serving institutions in total. 

In the fiscal year 2015 budget, we have requested a number of 

initiatives to help tribal colleges, Native-serving institutions and 

others receive support through the College Success Grants for MiVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
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1http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13—219.80.asp 

nority-Serving Institutions and the College Opportunity and Graduation bonus program. With higher education more important than 

ever for our shared future, we must continue to improve college 

completion for the AI/AN community. As Secretary Duncan said in 

his commencement remarks just this weekend at Salish-Kootenai 

College in Montana, this is essential for maximizing individual opportunity, community leadership and national economic prosperity. 

We thank you for holding this hearing. I have read the other witnesses’ prepared remarks that were available in advance and I will 

stay as long as I can to hear them. I would be happy to answer 

any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Studley follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAMIENNE STUDLEY, DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Good afternoon Chairman Tester, Senator Barrasso, and Committee members. My 

name is Jamienne Studley and I am the Deputy Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The Under Secretary’s office coordinates policies and 

programs related to postsecondary education, career and technical education, adult 

education, and federal student aid, as well as the six White House Initiatives, including the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education (WHIAIANE or ‘‘Initiative’’). I appreciate the opportunity to testify today 

about the work the Administration is doing to expand educational opportunities and 

improve outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in higher education. 

Increasing Partnerships with Tribes, States, and the Private Sector to 

Improve Native Student Achievement 

This Administration has taken important steps to support tribal self-determination and to strengthen and honor the Federal Government’s government-to-government relationship with tribal nations. To reaffirm these commitments, the President 

issued Executive Order 13592 on December 2, 2011, which established the 

WHIAIANE. The mission of the Initiative is to expand educational opportunities 

and improve educational outcomes for AI/AN students. This includes enhancing opportunities for AI/AN students to learn their Native languages, cultures, and histories, and to receive an education that prepares them for college, careers, and tribal 

citizenship and leadership. 

The Initiative works with tribes, Federal agencies, states, and the private sector 

to advance these goals. With respect to postsecondary education, the Initiative 

works to: 

• Help ensure that schools meet the unique cultural, educational, and language 

needs of AI/AN students; 

• Implement and expand evidence-based strategies that provide AI/AN students 

with a rigorous and well-rounded education; 

• Increase access to support services that prepare AI/AN students for college, careers, and civic involvement; 

• Reduce student dropout rates and help more AI/AN students complete high 

school prepared for college and careers; and 

• Increase college access and completion by strengthening the capacity of postsecondary institutions, including tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). 

American Indian/Alaska Native Students and Higher Education 

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicate that AI/ 

AN students are less prepared than other subgroups for college and careers. According to American Community Survey, AI/AN students dropped out of high school at 

more than twice the rate for white students in 2011; in fact, among 16- to 24-yearolds born in the United States, AI/AN youth had the highest dropout rate of any 

racial/ethnic group. 1

Furthermore, NCES Common Core Data indicates that, while the average public 

high school graduation rate for all students has increased six points, from approxiVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
8 

2This same data show a similar lag for African American (20 percent) and Hispanic (16 percent) young adults. 

mately 75 percent in 2007–2008 to 81 percent in 2011–2012, the high school graduation rate for AI/AN students over the same period increased by only four points, 

from 64 to 68 percent. 

Additionally, according to ED’s Civil Rights Data College (CRDC), AI/AN students 

have less access to rigorous mathematics and science coursework in high school 

compared to other race/ethnicity groups. In 2011–2012, only 47 percent of AI/AN 

students attended public high schools where the full range of mathematics and 

science courses were offered. In contrast, the percentage of the other race/ethnicity 

groups that had access to the full range of mathematics and science courses ranged 

from 57 percent to 81 percent. 

Also, based on the CRDC, in 2011–2012, AI/AN students represented 1 percent 

of high school students and 1 percent of students enrolled in an AP course and taking an AP exam, but only 0.5 percent of students receiving a qualifying score of 3 

or above on an AP exam. In contrast, white and Asian students combined represented 59 percent of high school enrollment, but 69 percent of students taking AP 

courses, 72 percent of students taking AP exams, and 80 percent of students receiving a qualifying score on an AP exam. 

And on nationally representative achievement tests, the gaps separating AI/AN 

students from non-AI/AN students have not closed and, disappointingly, have mostly 

widened between 2005 and 2011. 

Beyond high school, AI/AN young adults also lag behind their white peers in educational attainment. According to 2013 Census Bureau data, 60 percent of Asian 

and 40 percent of White 25- to 29-year-olds held baccalaureate degrees, compared 

with just 17 percent of AI/AN young adults. 2 Across all degree-granting institutions, 

AI/AN enrollment increased from 76,000 to 196,000 students from 1976 to 2010; 

however, AI/AN enrollment dropped to 173,000 by 2012. These students accounted 

for only 1 percent of the total enrollment during those years. 

AI/AN students did earn nearly twice as many bachelor’s degrees in 2012 as in 

2002, and nearly three times as many master’s degrees. At the doctoral level, according to the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates, AI/AN 

students represented 1.2 percent of the U.S. population in 2012 but earned just 0.3 

percent of the doctorates awarded. They are the only minority group that did not 

increase their share of doctorates earned over the past two decades. 

These statistics make it clear that more must be done to expand and improve educational opportunities and outcomes for AI/AN students. 

ED Programs that Support AI/AN Students 

The Administration is working with institutions of higher education, both tribally 

controlled and non-tribally controlled, to meet President Obama’s goal to be first in 

the world in college graduation rates by 2020. 

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Program 

There are currently 34 tribally controlled colleges and universities (TCUs) that 

serve approximately 19,000 students. These institutions fulfill a unique role in AI/ 

AN communities by providing a quality academic experience while also protecting 

and teaching tribal cultures, histories, and languages. By combining personal attention with cultural relevance, TCUs have become increasingly important in helping 

ensure educational access and achievement for AI/AN students, especially for those 

living on or near reservations. The President’s fiscal year 2015 budget request would provide a total of $53 million for the Title III Strengthening Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities 

program—$25.2 million in discretionary funding and $27.8 million in mandatory 

funding. This funding, authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as 

amended (HEA), would provide $53 million in funding to support 68 projects across 

13 states. 

Historically, the TCUs program has had a significant impact on several schools. 

For example, at Chief Dull Knife College, located on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana, the programmatic funding has allowed the college to provide professional development opportunities for its faculty and staff and 

has a 100 percent faculty retention rate over the past three years. From 2008–2012, 

placement of students in higher-level math classes increased by more than 20 percent, and the completion rate for developmental skill classes increased to 70 percent. 

The college, like many tribal colleges, has also implemented Native language activities as part of the curriculum. Cheyenne language courses are being offered in a 

9 

four-course series, and the college also provides summer Cheyenne-language immersion experiences for youth in the surrounding communities. 

And Aaniiih Nakoda College, located on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Harlem, 

Montana, has used HEA Title III grant funds to develop a new campus-wide retention plan. Student retention rates have increased by more than 10 percent reaching 

a record high 65 percent for the fall 2012 first-time, full-time student cohort. 

Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Program 

The Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving Institutions 

(ANNH) program, also authorized under Title III of the HEA, provides grants to eligible institutions of higher education to enable them to improve and expand their 

capacity to serve Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. Institutions may use these 

grants to plan, develop, or implement activities that promise to strengthen the institution. 

In fiscal year 2014, $12.6 million in discretionary funding and $13.9 million in 

mandatory funding will support a total of 30 grants to ANNH institutions, including 

14 new awards expected to be made in fiscal year 2014. The fiscal year 2015 budget 

request is the same as the 2014 level. 

For example, at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks—Northwest, the ANNH 

grant has allowed the university to have a well-connected student support services 

team that has expanded their presence in the communities in which it serves. Additionally, the university is setting up locally relevant sequenced courses that lead to 

defined outcomes, which are created with the participation and support of each of 

the communities and its members. Finally, the school has created a master plan for 

its facilities that will guide maintenance and renovation goals, future planning considerations, and make the campus more cohesive and energy efficient. 

Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions 

90 percent of AI/AN postsecondary students attend institutions of higher education that are not tribally controlled. These include Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTIs), in which the student body must be at least 10 percent Native American. The NASNTI program, also authorized under Title III of the 

HEA, provides grants and assistance to enable these institutions to improve and expand their capacity to serve AI/ANs and low-income individuals by engaging in such 

activities as: 

• Expanding dual enrollment opportunities; 

• Developing adult education to increase the number of AI/AN students who obtain high school diplomas; 

• Improving academic and student services to support student success and retention; 

• Improving the effective use of technology in academic environments; and 

• Increasing the number of AI/AN students who pursue advanced degrees. 

In fiscal year 2014, Congress appropriated $3.1 million in discretionary funding 

and $4.7 million in mandatory funding for this program. These funds will support 

19 continuation grants each averaging approximately $400,000. The President has 

requested similar funds for fiscal year 2015. 

For example, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College has used its NASNTI grant 

to introduce the ‘‘Native Ways of Knowing’’ pedagogy into three specific degree programs and to develop those programs for online delivery. Ninety-nine percent of students receiving support services related to the curriculum identified those services 

as ‘‘helpful or very helpful.’’ And over 55 percent of the AI/AN low-income students 

earned a 2.0 GPA or better. 

Another example is Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, which educates AI/ 

AN students tuition-free. With students from 120 different tribes, Native Americans 

make up close to 30 percent of the student population. To address the difficulty 

many students experience when transitioning from high school to college, Fort 

Lewis has used its NASNTI grant to add a specialized learning community for incoming freshmen that provides peer and elder mentoring and tutoring, and creates 

a supportive community for the students. This type of intensive programming has 

effectively used the grant to improve Native student retention. The grant has also 

enabled Fort Lewis to enhance its STEM program. Its newly accredited engineering 

program has resulted in AI/AN enrollment surges. 

Together, TCUs and NASNTIs have far-reaching impacts in the communities they 

serve. These institutions provide effective paths to academic achievement and degree completion for AI/AN students. These institutions also often serve as powerful 

engines of economic development, contributing to employment, raising incomes, and 

10 

directly and indirectly supporting other forms of economic growth within tribal communities. Because many of these colleges are in rural and underserved communities, 

this contribution is especially important. 

Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Career and Technical Institutions Program 

The Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Career and Technical Institutions Program 

(TCPCTIP), authorized under Section 117(c) of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 

Technical Education Act, provides funds to eligible institutions for expenses that are 

associated with capital expenditures, maintenance and operation of programs, expansion and improvement of educational offerings and student support services, including tuition, books, childcare, job placement counseling, transportation, and specialized tools and uniforms that are required for students to fully participate in career-technical education programs. 

Any tribally controlled postsecondary career and technical institution that does 

not receive Federal support under the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978 or the Navajo Community College Act is eligible to apply. Currently, ED supports two institutions under the program, Navajo Technical University in New Mexico and United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota. These two 

schools would each be eligible for a share of the $7.7 million in proposed FY 15 

funding. If their budget requests exceed the total appropriation, ED is required to 

apply a specific statutory method for calculating annual allocations that is based, 

in part, on student counts. 

Federal TRIO Program 

In fiscal year 2013, ED awarded a total of $4.6 million to support 18 Federal 

TRIO Program (TRIO) projects, authorized under Title IV of the HEA, at Tribally 

Controlled Colleges and Universities to serve 3,637 AI/AN students. TRIO is a collection of programs that provide outreach and support to help low-income and first 

generation college students, as well as students with disabilities, progress through 

the academic pipeline from middle school to post baccalaureate programs. These 18 

projects support activities under the Student Support Services Program ($3.4 million to fund 14 projects); the Talent Search Program ($518,652 to fund two projects); 

and the Upward Bound Program ($649,900 to fund two projects). In addition, a total 

of $815,657 was awarded to support three TRIO projects at Tribal Agencies to serve 

1,813 students. These three projects support activities under the Talent Search Program. In fiscal year 2014, TRIO grantees that demonstrate substantial progress in 

achieving the goals of their project are expected to receive continuation awards. 

New Budget Proposals to Expand Access and Completion 

The Federal Government’s special responsibility to tribes obligates it to help improve AI/AN postsecondary educational attainment. Higher education has long represented the surest route to the middle-class, but high costs are pricing out many 

students, and we know that nearly half of all students who begin college never finish. 

The 2015 budget request for higher education programs supports the President’s 

2020 college attainment goal and includes a number of new initiatives to improve 

affordability, quality, and success in postsecondary education, for which TCUs would 

be eligible to apply. These include: 

• $75 million for a First in the World fund that would make competitive awards 

to institutions of higher education to encourage innovative approaches to improve college attainment and make higher education more affordable; 

• $75 million for College Success Grants for Minority-Serving Institutions (including NASNTIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities that would be 

made available through competitive grants to support implementation of sustainable strategies for reducing costs and improving outcomes for students; and 

• $647 million in mandatory funding for the College Opportunity and Graduation 

Bonus program that would reward colleges that successfully enroll and graduate a significant number of low- and moderate-income students on time and 

to encourage all institutions to improve performance. 

TCUs are eligible for funds in States that would get grants under the Administra- tion’s proposed $4 billion State Higher Education Performance Fund to support, reform, and improve the performance of their public higher education systems. 

In addition, the Administration has taken a number of steps to address the challenge of keeping college affordable and accessible for all students, including AI/AN 

students. These efforts include: 

• Since taking office, President Obama has fought for higher Pell Grant funding, 

and, with the help of Congress has increased the Pell maximum award to 

11 

$5,730 and provided grants to an additional 3 million students. Under current 

projections, the 2015 level would support Pell Grant awards to 8.9 million students. Pell Grants are the largest source of grant aid, with approximately 41 

percent of all undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant. 

• The Administration has also sought ways to help borrowers manage their debt 

through the ‘‘Pay-as-You-Earn’’ proposal that caps student loan payments at 10 

percent of a borrower’s monthly income. The President’s FY 2015 budget would 

extend this proposal to all student borrowers. 

• ED has developed a number of new tools for HEA Title IV degree-granting institutions (including TCUs, NASNTIs, and ANNHs), such as the College Scorecard 

and the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, to help students and families make informed choices about college. In addition, the President’s new college ratings 

system will provide information about access, affordability, and outcomes at 

postsecondary institutions. The college ratings system will be available to students and families for the 2015–2016 school year. 

Conclusion 

The Administration, tribal nations, Congress, postsecondary institutions, states, 

and the private sector must all work together to keep college affordable, accessible, 

and available to all students. AI/AN students around the country benefit from this 

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

shared future, the nation must continue to invest resources to improve college completion for the AI/AN community. This is essential for maximizing both individual 

opportunity and our collective economic prosperity. 

The Administration remains committed to working with tribes and supporting 

TCUs to ensure that all AI/AN students have high-quality educational experiences 

that prepare them for careers and productive lives. 

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

to improve higher education opportunities and outcomes for AI/AN students. I would 

be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thanks, I appreciate your presentation. 

The special programs for Indian children activity for the Department of Education has seen an approximate 5 percent decrease in 

funding since 2010. These are special programs for Indian children. 

Located within this activity is professional development programs, 

which is composed of an American Indian teacher course and an 

American Indian administrator course. 

These programs seek to recruit and retain effective teachers and 

administrators for schools with large Native populations. If the Department is aware through its own national assessment of educational progress of the significant disparities that face American 

Indian students, how can this decrease be justified? 

Ms. STUDLEY. I have to admit that I am not specifically familiar 

with that change. 

The CHAIRMAN. That is fine. 

Ms. STUDLEY. I would be happy to get back to you with some details about that. Obviously teacher preparation and the specialized 

preparation of Native American and Alaska Native teachers is important to us. But within the constraints of the budget, we had 

tough decisions to make. I will find out more about that. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would appreciate that. Part of the problem is, 

if the studies show that we need certain things within our education and we decrease funding, unless there is a reason for it, that 

is why I asked you the question, if we are talking budget priorities, 

I would think this would be a pretty high priority. But I will let 

you get back to me. 

Ms. STUDLEY. Future preparation is clearly tremendously important. Let me find out about that specifically. 

12 

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. I want to talk about per student funding 

disparities that exist between minority-serving institutions. It 

seems that per-student funding at tribal colleges and universities 

are at the lowest as far as funding. I am not going to argue that 

you take away any benefits from any other minority-serving institutions. But shouldn’t they all be at the same level? 

Let me give you an example. Blackfeet Community College, we have Billie Jo Kipp here today, $5,850 per student. Howard University here in D.C., the Federal Government provides almost $22,000 

per student. Now, I am not saying you should cut the folks here 

at Howard. But I am wondering why there is such a big disparity 

between those two minority-serving institutions. 

Ms. STUDLEY. We clearly would like to increase support for education across the board and increase our investment in a wide 

range of institutions. If you look at the Pell allocation, you would 

find that tribal colleges and universities are particularly on the 

high end of Pell support for students at the tribal colleges. 

Across the spectrum of the many institutions we have, some of 

that funding is for research-based programs and different kinds of 

institutions, community colleges, four-year programs, career and 

technical programs, and research universities receive different 

kinds of funding from different agencies. So the Pell Grant program 

has seen tremendous increases and the tribal colleges and universities have among the highest Pell receipts because their students, 

as we recognize, are particularly needy. 

Some of the dollars that you are talking about are dollars from 

research-based programs and from other agencies for different purposes. What we would like to do is improve the resources and the 

ability to support education in all of these schools, including certainly the ones attended by AI/AN students. 

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. I think we will have our staff dig into that 

a little more, to see if the Pell actually makes up the difference. 

Ms. STUDLEY. I don’t assert that Pell closes that gap. But it is 

one program where the resources are targeted to undergraduate 

students with substantial need. It travels with those students to 

tribal colleges. There are other programs that they do not participate in. We recognize those differences. 

The CHAIRMAN. Before I turn it over to Senator Barrasso, I 

would just say that the reason we have had a series of hearings 

on education, whether it is preschool, or whether it is higher education is because poverty is rampant in Indian Country, in my neck 

of the woods. I think the only way you get out of that is with education. If college affordability becomes an issue these folks are not 

going to be able to achieve what all they can be. There has to be 

accountability in the process, make no mistake about that. But the 

fact is if we are going to break poverty in Indian Country, the foundation is education, in my opinion. You don’t need to comment on 

that. 

Senator Barrasso? 

Senator BARRASSO. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your line of questioning and appreciate what we are trying 

to accomplish here. 

It is interesting, according to the written testimony of Cheryl 

Crazy Bull, a witness on the next panel, issues of academic readiVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
13 

ness are a big part of this. The big compound that many challenges 

Indian students face in college. So I want to ask you a little about 

that. Her testimony notes low college preparedness levels, so that 

74 percent of Native youth require remedial math instruction, 50 

percent require remedial reading or writing instruction. How is the 

Department of Education coordinating with the Bureau of Indian 

Education and local public schools to address these academic readiness issues? 

Ms. STUDLEY. We certainly agree that a great deal more has to 

be done to help students graduate ready for college and career. And 

the preparation that you describe is one of the biggest challenges 

in meeting our goals of increasing national college completion. 

The Department has issued a blueprint for the reauthorization of 

the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It would include increased standards, better measurements of student learning and an 

accountability system based, in part, on academic growth of students. Teacher allocation and assuring that teachers who are effective teach the students who need them most, including the students whom you describe. That is a critically important component 

of bridging successfully between high school and college. Right now, 

far too much of our effort is spent thinking about college remediation. If we can more effectively prepare students in high school 

through teacher availability, programs like TRIO and Gear Up, 

other student supports, and then with the wider set of resources 

beyond the schoolhouse that you talked about in terms of income 

and community supports, the better we will do at having people 

begin college able to actually do college level work and then continue to completion. 

So there is a partnership that we need to have between the K– 

12 schools and colleges to be ready. It hinges on teachers, on availability of quality academic programs. We are very much attentive 

to the fact that this all begins at the preschool level. Many of the 

deficiencies that people experience in high school did not begin 

there, they started much earlier. So the proposals that we have 

made for early childhood education are meant to begin that continuum on a stronger base, to improve high school preparation in 

math and other subjects as you described. 

And then avoid the problem of students who complete high 

school thinking they are ready for college when, in fact, they are 

not prepared for college, even work. 

Senator BARRASSO. It seems you do want to get them set up for 

success, so when they show up for college they are taking advantage of every opportunity instead of feeling that they are sinking. 

Ms. STUDLEY. Right. Some of the colleges that you will hear from 

shortly already speak about programs like dual enrollment. The 

colleges are participating in one of the strategies that seems to be 

helpful in beginning exposure to college-level work and the demands of college and the feeling that you are, in fact, on a pathway 

to college. There is some reason to think that is a way to have people make a smoother and better prepared transition. I applaud 

them for participating in those programs. 

Senator BARRASSO. One of the disturbing facts that comes out is 

the 2012 Department of Education report on college graduation 

rates noted that Native American graduation rates were the lowest 

14 

since 2007. On the other hand, the rates of other populations seems 

to be trending upward. So I am curious what the Department is 

doing to reverse this decline that we are seeing in Native American 

college graduation rates. 

Ms. STUDLEY. The numbers that we are looking at actually indicate an improvement for AI/AN students, but at a slower pace than 

we would like to see or than some of the other populations. So 

there is good news about the degree accomplishments of AI/AN students. It is just not as good as we would all want to see it be. 

We think that our focus on preschool and K–12 supports are part 

of the pathway and the way to accelerate rates, and by improving 

teacher effectiveness so that people are on track to keep moving, 

would all be very important. Pell supports and repayment options 

would give people the encouragement to go to colleges that would 

be useful and effective for them. We are also working on a number 

of strategies to identify and address the kinds of things that keep 

people who begin college from being among the successful 

completers. Putting it positively, there are lots of interesting, beyond experiments, practices going on at schools to help people develop more effective study habits to stay with a program, to track 

persistence and identify people who are at risk of not completing, 

whether it is for financial or family reasons, academic reasons, incorporation into the community of the school that they are attending, and trying to recognize that having somebody start college is 

not a guarantee of success. There is a lot we may be able to do in 

student supports that will help people who want to go on and complete a degree to actually do that. 

And also to smooth the transition between community colleges 

and bachelor’s degree programs. That is a place where for too many 

Americans, but especially for AI/AN students, where that transition 

needs to be better supported. We need to be clear that people can 

take the work they have done to the next academic level so they 

can move smoothly toward the completion of a bachelor’s degree if 

that is their objective. So there are a lot of ways we are looking 

at increasing even further those accomplishments. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Franken? 

STATEMENT OF HON. AL FRANKEN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

I am glad that Co-Chairman Barrasso is talking about college 

readiness. I am glad that you responded by saying we have to go 

to the preschool. Everything that you mentioned just brings up 

something for me. I am sure this works for you too. You talked 

about study habits, housing. Housing on our reservations—— 

Ms. STUDLEY. Transportation, getting to school and college. 

Senator FRANKEN. And let’s go back just a second to housing. If 

you don’t have housing and families end up living together and 

somebody in one of the families has an addiction or there is domestic violence, you are perpetuating these. One, the kids are exposed 

to it, they are witnessing it. I am so glad that Senator Murkowski 

and Senator Heitkamp are looking at this children’s study. 

We have so much to do. Where are we doing early childhood education? I know that on White Earth in Minnesota we are doing it. 

15 

We are not doing enough of any of these things, are we, is the answer, right? 

Ms. STUDLEY. And we are not doing it systematically enough. 

And sometimes it is the students who need it most who don’t have 

the access to it. 

Senator FRANKEN. Of course. And during the sequester, we saw 

Indian schools particularly hit. So I just don’t think we are doing 

right by our original citizens. 

Then you get to college. A few months ago I met with Dr. Don 

Day, who is the President of Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass 

Lake, Minnesota. He told me one of his biggest challenges is just 

finding adequate operational funding for a school. In fact, the legislation authorizing funding for tribal colleges authorizes $8,000 for 

each Native American student. But the actual funding for the most 

recent academic year was only about $5,600 per student, which is 

30 percent below the authorized level. 

My question is, can we at least appropriate the authorized level? 

How do we do that? 

Ms. STUDLEY. I think the question is for you and your colleagues, 

who have the appropriation authority. We certainly can see that 

the lack of those funds constrains these hard-working colleges. 

Senator FRANKEN. You have the right answer. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator FRANKEN. I think we have to do that. The President has 

to ask for this, too, in those budgets. We don’t have budgets, we 

don’t get from the White House when it makes budgets, we have 

Deputy Secretary Washburn come here and not be able to really 

defend the budgets that were sent here when it comes to school reconstruction. I have kids in Leech Lake, again, that are in the BugO–Nay-Ge-Shig School which is a pole barn. Since I have been 

here, since the day I got here, I have been trying to get that place 

reconstructed. Because when the wind blows more than 40 miles 

an hour, they have to leave because it is not safe. This winter, it 

got down to 30 below zero with the wind blowing. And the kids had 

to leave the school and run 400 yards for other shelter. We need 

to fund school reconstruction. We need everything you pointed, 

every direction you pointed to, the answer to Senator Barrasso’s 

question is somewhere we are failing, I believe. 

These questions are hard enough without the proper funding. 

But I really am disappointed every time, I mean, yes, we in Congress make the appropriations, but also when we get the budget 

from the White House, I find that incredibly disappointing. 

I do like what you are talking about with college alignment, high 

school alignment with college. I really believe that we have to be 

preparing our kids for college as you said in early childhood. But 

we have to be thinking about careers. And one of the things I have 

been trying to do is meet the skills gap. I just met today with people in construction, contractors who have a skills gap in their business now, just like in manufacturing, just like in IT. We have to 

be able to also tell our kids, yes, you can go to college, yes, you can 

go to law school, yes, you can go to medical school. I want American Indian kids having that dream. I also want them to know that 

they can go to two-year community technical college and get a job 

16 

and get a good, middle class job. And that they don’t necessarily 

have to go through a four-year school. It is not for everyone. 

Ms. STUDLEY. I agree. If I could just mention, as I have traveled 

the country I have heard many references to welding and to the 

fast pace at which welding students get out of school and are put 

right to work because the jobs are there. And I was very pleased 

to see in the testimony that will follow me that there are programs 

at some of these colleges that recognize those labor market needs 

and are offering successful welding programs. 

So I think it is important that students have the options based 

on their skills and also that their schools are able to provide for 

that. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Murkowski. 

Senator MURKOWSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is important, 

as we are talking about barriers to success with Native American 

children, Alaska native children, you think about things like transportation as you have mentioned, and housing, as Senator Franken 

has mentioned. Then there are also some things that are less tangible. I know at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, we have effectively a program where the Native students who come from a very, 

very small village are just overwhelmed by being in a mid-size 

town. Fairbanks is not big by anybody’s standards. 

But it is extraordinarily intimidating in being in that college setting. Just getting comfortable in a system can be a struggle. Initially the thought was, you just integrate everybody and move 

them in. But we lost a lot of our young people who said, it is just 

too intimidating. So now we are looking at other models as to how 

we can put them in a situation and experience that does not prohibit them from achieving success. 

I wanted to talk about a couple of different regulations that we 

are seeing within the department that I have been made aware 

could actually be an impediment to our Native American students. 

One is limiting financial aid eligibility based on the time it takes 

a student to earn their degree. So if you have, as Senator Barrasso 

has mentioned, you have Native American students that when they 

come to college, they need a level of remediation that just takes 

some time. So they can be working hard to get their skills up, but 

it is taking them longer than the financial aid eligibility package 

will allow them. So they get up to speed and then they run out of 

financial aid before they can complete the college. 

What is the Administration doing to address this aspect of aid? 

Ms. STUDLEY. We are working as hard as we can to avoid the 

problem in the first place, to assure that people are prepared or 

that the remediation is as swift a process as possible, so that people don’t run into those limits at the far end. The financial aid 

timetables, they don’t expect that a pupil must complete a two-year 

degree within two years, or a four-year degree within four years. 

Those are old fashioned terms now. They have some leeway, recognizing that it takes some students more time, even if they are attempting to go to school on a full-time basis. While it is a tough 

balance to strike, we think it is important that both the student 

and the school know that they need to make headway. Our efforts 

go into high school readiness, the transitional programs, and sharVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
17 

ing the word about what makes for a good and effective remediation program. 

There is a great deal of effort, some of it coming out of the White 

House summit this past winter, about improving remediation programs. There are ways to teach math and statistics that are much 

easier for a lot of students than some of the traditional ways they 

have been taught. 

Senator MURKOWSKI. Let me ask you this, if I can interrupt. I 

have another question as well. Are we tracking how many minority 

students might be dropping out, those that have to go through the 

remediation, who got financial aid, then the financial aid clock runs 

and they drop out? I think it would be interesting to know what 

we are looking at, at numbers. I don’t know if you have that, but 

if that is something you could look at I would certainly be curious. 

Ms. STUDLEY. I will look at that too and how we are tracking, 

whether we know anything about how those patterns work now 

and as it goes forward. 

Senator MURKOWSKI. Let me ask also about the dual enrollment 

programs. You mentioned this. I had a meeting just last week with 

a provost from the University of Alaska. I was made aware that 

we got regulations now that require a student to make satisfactory 

academic progress to retain financial aid eligibility, okay. But now 

that is being applied to students who attend college through the 

dual enrollment programs. 

So again, you have a situation here where we are going to encourage our Native American students, we want to put them in a 

safe place where hopefully they can learn from their mistakes, they 

will learn better time management skills, they will learn better 

study habits. But it seems to me you are going to be in a situation 

again where you are encouraging the dual enrollment, which I am 

all over, but you have a cutoff where things are not lining up to 

allow that student to go fully through the system in coordination 

with the financial aid eligibility. 

So it is something that, again, was brought to us as an issue 

where you really have an unintended consequence at play here 

with some of your minority students, just those students that we 

would want to encourage to be part of this dual enrollment to get 

their feet on the ground. And then the financial aid is pulled out. 

So I would ask you to look at that if you have not already. 

Ms. STUDLEY. We certainly can. One of the challenges of incorporating these new methods of instruction and these new hybrid 

models and so forth is to connect them with the existing student 

aid regulations, which are there for a reason, but we have to work 

hard to make them adaptable to new circumstances. We are doing 

things like an experimental sites program to look at situations 

where we can relieve regulatory burdens in order to allow new 

processes to go forward. We will look at that particular question 

and see if it is creating a pinch for those students. 

Senator MURKOWSKI. Mr. Chairman, I would think that in light 

of the just devastating statistics that we have with our Native 

American students that this would be an area where the Department, through their regulations, could work administratively to 

perhaps make sure that things measure up between the financial 

aid and the ability to access that and as we are trying to get these 

18 

students really safely integrated into a system so it doesn’t fail 

them. 

The CHAIRMAN. I agree. Senator Johnson? 

Senator JOHNSON. I appreciated learning about the successes at 

Chief Dull Knife College in regard to the implementation of Native 

language education in the classroom. Is data being collected to understand the role that Native language has in retention rates? 

Ms. STUDLEY. That is an interesting question. I don’t know if we 

have looked at it specifically. Clearly we know that things that engage students in the curriculum, that make them feel at home at 

college and when there is something that they want to learn and 

want to continue learning, are important. I am not familiar with 

whether we or the colleges have specifically looked at whether that 

increases retention. I hope it does. Let me see if we can amplify 

that. 

Senator JOHNSON. Will you look into that? 

Ms. STUDLEY. Yes, absolutely, sir. 

Senator JOHNSON. I was pleased to learn that three times as 

many masters degrees were awarded in Native students in 2012 

than in 2002. What contributed to this sharp increase and what degrees were most sought by Native students? 

Ms. STUDLEY. I don’t know the degrees off hand. We were also 

very pleased to see that. I imagine it is a number of forces ranging 

from the institutions themselves seeking these students, the preparation that they had from the colleges that they attended. We can 

let you know what fields they were in. I believe that teaching was 

one of the fields for growing masters degrees, which would be a 

tribute to the very programs that we began with. 

But let me let you know how those break down. 

Senator JOHNSON. As you know, in December of 2011, President 

Obama signed an executive order calling for a two-part four-year 

plan in which Federal agencies focused on expanding education opportunities and improving outcomes for Native American students. 

What progress has been made thus far at the Department of Education regarding the President’s order? 

Ms. STUDLEY. In February, following that, the President’s InterAgency Working Group on Indian Education brought together 29 

Federal agencies to implement that executive order. The development of those plans is underway but has indeed not been fully realized at this point. 

One of the things that we realized was that the request for the 

plans was made perhaps too informally and we are in the process 

of making a much clearer request for the two-part, four-year plans 

with more specific guidelines and a clearer delivery date. We expect 

to have that clearer guidance go out this summer and to have consultations on the draft agency plans by this winter. 

Senator JOHNSON. Very good. You highlight that Native student 

achievement test scores have not improved when compared to nonNative students. What measures has the Department of Education 

taken to address this issue? 

Ms. STUDLEY. Much of this work is at the elementary and secondary level. I know that you have had and will have again hearings on those particular issues. But as we work to distribute teachers who are capable of helping students reach satisfactory eduVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
19 

cational achievement levels, we hope that will be part of the solution. We also believe that States aligning curriculum with the tests 

these students will take will give them better signals about what 

they are going to be tested on and help them be better prepared 

to do well on those exams. But it is a tremendous challenge and 

it is one of the many markers that we look at to show that we still 

have quite a ways to go. 

Senator JOHNSON. I yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Heitkamp. 

STATEMENT OF HON. HEIDI HEITKAMP, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is so incredibly frustrating, as I sit here and listen. Chairman Tester has 

started these hearings with early childhood, and you can see it 

building and building. As we go through each one of these steps, 

I think we get more and more frustrated, because we don’t really 

see a plan to change outcomes. 

And if we keep doing what we have always done and maybe 

tweak it around the edges, we are going to always get this result. 

So where is the dramatic change? I am hoping we will see some 

of that from the President. When he comes to North Dakota we are 

going to welcome him and he is going to spend some time with our 

children there. 

I just want to tell a little story. I think it is probably a story here 

a lot of folks here know. It is about the two fishermen fishing away 

and all of a sudden the baby is in the water. They rescue the baby 

and this goes on quite a bit. Pretty soon the river is full of children. 

The one who is in the water rescuing the babies and handing them 

ashore walks away. And the one in the water saw the one in the 

water walk away. And the one on the shore said, you can’t quit, 

we have these children. He said, you don’t understand. I am walking upstream to stop people from throwing them in. 

So at what point do we walk upstream and really change outcomes? I listen and I agree with you, better teachers, more accountability and what the elementary principals who were here a couple 

of weeks ago would have said is, where are my resources? You tell 

me where to find those teachers. You tell me where I find that accountability. All you are going to do is blame me and then you talk 

to the early childhood folks and they say, we can’t do this without 

better institutions in prenatal, we can’t do this without better 

health care, we can’t do this without a better economy. 

And I guess I just want to impress upon everyone who is involved in Indian education, yes, it is the way forward. But we have 

to recognize that instead of trying to fit all of our great ideas within programs, we have to start thinking about what kids need. And 

they need, as Senator Franken said, they need a good home. You 

know what? They don’t have that in Indian Country. They need a 

family that is loving and supportive and not stressed with poverty. 

Guess what? A lot of them don’t have that in Indian Country. 

So I hope that as we look at strategies on improving educational 

attainment for Native American children we broaden our scope and 

understand that that process really is un achievable unless we 

20 

really do take a comprehensive community support for the change 

that we need. 

With that said, I would tell you, I have met brilliant, and I agree 

with you and Senator Murkowski and a lot of people here, there 

are great kids who are coming out of the university systems, a lot 

of them have interned in my office. I see great hope there. If we 

really talk to those kids and say, look what a great job we have 

done, we are ignoring the 95 that fell through the cracks. 

So what I really would like to ask is, what within your responsibility, how often do you have conversations about changing outcomes based on a holistic, community-wide, family-wide support? 

Ms. STUDLEY. There are lots of different ways I could come at 

your question. One is that we think about how we can shift resources to the schools that are actually achieving results for the 

lowest income students. This would certainly put a focus on those 

schools that are serving Alaska Native and American Indian students. 

Having schools be very clear with us in their reporting would 

allow us to provide more resources to those that are successfully 

graduating more AI/AN students from college or making progress 

toward increased graduation. These are the places that have shown 

us that they know how to improve results and where we can have 

hope that, if they have a little bit more to work with, they can 

reach more students or produce outcomes more consistently. 

So, as you said, there are ways to look at outcomes but also to 

put resources behind it so we allocate them to the places doing the 

hardest job that we know about in American higher education that 

are taking people to completion. 

Another is working with other agencies. As I mentioned, these 

plans are not just ours alone. There are 29 Federal agencies, at the 

very least, whose work affects the opportunity and ability of Native 

Americans and Alaska Natives, who have the resources, whether it 

is safety or health care or food and nutrition. Or the education that 

you can benefit from only if you actually have those in the first 

place. So part of it is interagency. 

We are also looking at ways that communities can, or we can 

help communities that want to come together, through the school 

superintendent, college leaders, in this case tribal leaders, philanthropy, faith-based organizations, think about how we can make 

those partnerships better. The Administration is looking at how we 

can support those kinds of partnerships so that all the people who 

play a part in stronger communities and therefore in increased college success can benefit from what others are doing in other communities, from our smallest communities in rural neighborhoods to 

the large cities, where a number of these students are also educated. 

So we are trying all of those approaches, interagency, institutional rewards for the successes that we see to help give those 

places the help that they need, and helping communities learn internally from each other and then from successful community partnerships. I think you are right on track. 

The CHAIRMAN. There will be questions that will be presented to 

you that you will need to answer for the record. 

21 

I would just say that first of all, I want to thank you for being 

here today and want to thank you for your testimony and for answering questions. I really do hope that the Department really puts 

some priority on the challenges that are out there in Indian Country and across the board, too. This is the Indian Affairs Committee, 

so it is Indian Country. 

The challenges are great, the opportunities are greater. I think 

that if we are able to think outside the box and work with some 

of the people on the next panel and others, we can come to solutions. I applaud your staying for the next panel. I think that is 

very, very good. Hopefully it won’t put you in too much time difficulties. 

With that, we will just say thank you and we will start the second panel. 

Ms. STUDLEY. Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would now like to ask our second panel to come 

forward. Our witnesses include Dr. Billie Jo Kipp, who is the President of Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana. They 

have a nice campus, very nice. Next we will hear from Ms. Cheryl 

Crazy Bull, President of the American Indian College Fund in Denver, Colorado. We will then turn to Dr. Thomas Purce, President 

of the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Finally, 

we will hear from Melvin Monette, Director of Graduate Fellowships at the American Indian Graduate Center in Albuquerque, 

New Mexico. 

I want to welcome all of you. I would remind you it is five minutes, there are four of you. We are going to have some questions 

and I don’t know what kind of time constraints Senator Heitkamp 

is under, but if you can keep it to five minutes, we would appreciate it, knowing that your entire written testimony will be a part 

of the official record. We will start with you, Billie Jo. Thank you 

for being here. 

STATEMENT OF BILLIE JO KIPP, PRESIDENT, BLACKFEET 

COMMUNITY COLLEGE 

Ms. KIPP. Mr. Chairman, I am Billie Jo Kipp, President of Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana. I ask that my full 

statement be included in this hearing’s record. 

On behalf of my college and the Nation’s 36 other tribal colleges 

and universities, which are collectively the American Indian Higher 

Education Consortium, thank you for this opportunity to speak on 

tribal higher education. I thank the Committee, and you in particular, Mr. Chairman, for your ongoing support which enables 

TCUs to serve more than 88,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives each year through academic and community programs at 

more than 75 sites in 16 States. 

Mr. Chairman, the Federal Government’s modest investment in 

tribal colleges is yielding a tremendous return. In Montana, the investment in tribal colleges is powerful. Half of all Native students 

in higher education in our State attend our seven TCUs, with the 

largest percentage, 13 percent, at BCC. Most Native students enrolled in Montana’s State universities are likely there because of a 

tribal college. 

22 

This Committee has heard the challenges facing Indian Country: 

poverty, broken social services, dysfunctional governments and 

more. These challenges are serious, but not insurmountable. They 

do not define us. Hope defines us. It is ability to look back, to draw 

from our stories, our songs, our history and our language to build 

a better world on our own land. Tribal colleges are transforming 

this vision into reality. 

BCC, along with all the tribal colleges, takes up in a few pitiful 

dollars and shapes them into opportunity for educational success, 

healthier lives, revitalized languages and safer environments for 

our people. At BCC, we have established early childhood and elementary education programs at the associate level to begin building a workforce of Blackfeet teachers, because our children learn 

best when they have teachers who look like them. All TCUs are 

committed to growing more Native teachers. 

Half of all Native special ed teachers in Montana today are SKC 

graduates. BCC and SKC could enroll 40 to 50 American Indian 

teacher aides in four-year elementary ed degree programs if we had 

funding to provide scholarships and expand our capacity. But the 

key Federal resource for tribal teacher development in the Office 

of Indian Education has been on a downward funding trend almost 

since it was reestablished in 2000. BCC has not received a grant 

through that program for years. But still we find ways to encourage success, including developing a behavioral health training program for K–12 teacher aides on our reservation, so they can help 

address challenges facing our children. 

BCC and other Montana TCUs are leading Indian Country in our 

commitment to sustainable environment. BCC built the first Platinum LEEDS certified building in Indian Country. Little Bighorn 

College followed us, building the largest. Both buildings house vital 

community-based programs. Today they are the only Platinum 

LEEDS certified buildings in Indian Country. 

Unfortunately, a few years ago the President and Congress eliminated the very modest eight HUD TCU program which had provided seed money that we leveraged with other financing to construct these buildings. HUD TCUP was a $5 million program annually, which we leveraged ten to one to build wellness centers, computer labs, Head Start Centers and libraries for our communities. 

You have been to our communities. You have seen the tremendous need. Please help us restore this program. 

In workforce development, BCC has developed stackable nursing 

programs. We just graduated our largest group of American Indian 

LPNs. Soon we will offer an accredited RN program. 

We also have an innovative behavioral health aide program and 

are partnering with the University of Montana on a social work degree program. Soon BCC hopes to join SKC and Oglala Lakota College as the Nation’s top producers of American Indian RNs and social workers. 

Again, we are achieving these goals with little support from key 

Federal agencies. TCU proposals to HRSA and other agencies are 

turned down year after year. We cannot compete with major universities. Within the larger Federal health workforce training programs, we need and deserve a specific setaside for all tribal workforce training. Tribal colleges are academic institutions and student 

23 

1This statistic excludes self-reporting, which despite having been shown in studies to be unreliable, is the measure used by the Department of Education’s White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. 

success and completion are key. These are challenges, because 

more than 70 percent of our students require developmental education. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would ask that you wrap up. 

Ms. KIPP. Still, the overall retention rate has improved 32 percent. Again, the funding is the disparity. You have mentioned it. 

It is $22,000 for Howard, compared to $5,800 for the tribal colleges. 

With our treaties in one hand, the U.S. Constitution in the other, 

and the hope of our Nation in our hearts, we ask your commitment 

to work with us to address longstanding inequities and make a 

proven investment in tribal higher education. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Kipp follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF BILLIE JO KIPP, PRESIDENT, BLACKFEET COMMUNITY

COLLEGE

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee, my name is Billie 

Jo Kipp. I am a member the Blackfeet tribe, President of Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). On behalf of my institution, 

Blackfeet Community College, and the 36 other Tribal Colleges and Universities 

(TCUs) in the U.S. that compose AIHEC, thank you for inviting me to testify at this 

hearing examining higher education for American Indian students. 

It is an honor to speak with the members of this Committee about Tribal Colleges 

and the work we are doing to transform Indian Country. We are also grateful to 

have the opportunity to thank you in person, Chairman Tester, for your tremendous 

work on behalf of the seven tribal communities in Montana and all Native people. 

My statement touches on three topics: The Tribal College Movement in general; 

the accomplishments and challenges of TCUs in bring high-quality, culturally appropriate higher education opportunities to our students and outreach programs to our 

communities; and some recommendations that will help us address our collective 

mission of improving the lives of our students through higher education and moving 

American Indians toward self-sufficiency. I submit this written statement for the 

Hearing Record. 

Background: The Tribal College Movement 

Mr. Chairman, you and many of the members of this Committee know the Tribal 

Colleges well. Perhaps no other Members of Congress know better our challenges: 

as some of the most poorly funded institutions of higher education in the country, 

our struggle is a daily one. Yet, you also know of our considerable successes, from 

our work to build self-esteem and change the life and future of our students through 

nurturing educational environments that are culturally based and uniquely relevant 

to our students, to our efforts to build stronger and more prosperous Tribal nations 

through the restoration of our languages, community outreach programs and applied research on issues relevant to our land and our people, workforce training in 

fields critical to our reservation communities, and community-centered economic development and entrepreneurial programs. 

Tribal Colleges and Universities are a vital and essential component of American 

Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) education. Currently, 37 TCUs operate more than 75 

campuses and sites in 16 states, within whose geographic boundaries 80 percent of 

all American Indian reservations and federal Indian trust land lie. We serve students from well over 250 federally recognized tribes, 80 percent of whom receive federal financial aid. In total, TCUs annually serve about 88,000 AIs/ANs through a 

wide variety of academic and community-based programs. In Montana, 50 percent 

of all American Indians enrolled in higher education attend one of seven TCUs in 

our state, and a full 13 percent are students of Blackfeet Community College. In 

fact, according to all available statistics on American Indians enrolled in federally 

recognized Indian tribes and currently engaged in higher education nationally, more 

than 50 percent attend TCUs. 1

TCUs are public institutions accredited by independent, regional accreditation 

agencies and like all U.S. institutions of higher education must periodically undergo 

24 

stringent performance reviews to retain their accreditation status. Currently, all 

TCUs offer associate degrees; 13 TCUs offer multiple bachelor’s degrees, and five 

TCUs offer master’s degrees. Each TCU is committed to improving the lives of its 

students through higher education and to moving American Indians toward self-sufficiency. 

Tribal colleges are public institutions of higher education and, as such, student 

access and success are core goals. These present real challenges, because more than 

70 percent of our students require developmental education in mathematics, and 

more than half need remedial work in reading and writing. Still, the overall TCU 

retention rate has improved 32 percent in eight years and our graduation rate is 

up 17 percent. TCUs have achieved this through first year experience programs, integrating academics with student support, and putting research in the classroom. 

Yet, while our retention and completion rates have improved, our operations funding has not. 

Tribal Colleges are first and foremost academic institutions, but because of the 

number of challenges facing Indian Country—high unemployment, poorly developed 

economies, poor health status, and lack of stable community infrastructures, our colleges are called upon to do much more than provide higher education services. TCUs 

often run entrepreneurial and business development centers; many TCUs are the 

primary GED/Hi SET or other HS equivalency program and Adult Basic Education 

provider on our reservations, and most if not all TCUs provide a variety of evening, 

weekend training and para-professional programs for tribal employees, BIA and IHS 

staff, K–12 schools, tribal courts and justice system staff, and many others. TCUs 

run day care centers and Head Start programs, health nutrition education programs, community gardens, and often, the community library and tribal museum or 

archives. 

Perhaps most important, Blackfeet Community College and all of the TCUs are 

actively and aggressively working to preserve and sustain their own tribal language 

and culture. All TCUs offer Native language courses. In some cases, the tribal language would have been completely lost if not for the local Tribal College. Turtle 

Mountain Community College in Belcourt, North Dakota, was established primarily 

for this purpose, and over the years, its success in writing and revitalizing the Turtle Mountain Chippewa language has been remarkable. Aaniiih Nakoda College in 

Montana runs a K–6 language immersion school, right on campus. At the White 

Clay Immersion School, children learn the White Clay language and culture in addition to subjects they would routinely study at any other school. 

Many TCUs offer unique associate and bachelor degree programs, as well as inservice training, in elementary education. At the TCUs, teacher education programs 

follow cultural protocols and emphasize the use of Native language in everyday instruction. 

Tribal Colleges have advanced American Indian higher education significantly 

since we first began in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Yet despite these advances funding for TCUs remains grossly inadequate: 

(1) Tribal Colleges are not state institutions, and consequently, we receive little 

or no state funding. In fact, very few states provide support for the non-Indian state residents attending TCUs, which account for about 20 percent of 

all Tribal College students. However, if these same students attended a 

state institution, the state would be required to provide the institution with 

operational support for them. This is something we are trying to rectify 

through education and public policy change at the state and local level. 

(2) The tribal governments that chartered Tribal Colleges are not among the 

handful of enormously wealthy gaming tribes located near major urban 

areas that one reads about in the mass media. Rather, they are some of the 

poorest governments in the nation. 

(3) Finally, the Federal Government, despite its trust responsibility and treaty 

obligations, has never fully funded our primary institutional operations 

source, the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act. 

Today, the Act is appropriated at about $5,850 per full time Indian Student, 

which after over 30 years is still only about 73 percent of the level authorized by Congress to operate these institutions. 

Faced with ever rising costs of day-to-day operations, to continue to thrive and 

expand as community-based educational institutions, TCUs must stabilize, sustain, 

and increase our basic operational funding. Through tools such as AIHEC’s comprehensive data collection initiative, AIHEC AIMS, which includes more than 120 

quantitative and qualitative indictors on which all TCUs report annually, we hope 

to better educate the public, lawmakers, and federal officials about the cost-effective 

25 

success of our institutions. Through opportunities such as this, we hope to share 

with the Congress and others how we are helping to meet the challenges facing our 

tribal nations. 

Accomplishments and Challenges 

Since our inception, Blackfeet Community College—like all TCUs—has taken 

hope and a pitifully few dollars, and shaped them into opportunity: opportunity for 

success throughout the education continuum, early childhood to college; healthier 

lifestyles; more prosperous communities; revitalized languages; and safer environments for all of our people. We make all of this possible as holistic tribal institutions 

of higher education, but over the past several years, changes in federal policy and 

funding priorities have made our work even more difficult. 

The Education Continuum: 

Head Start: With the reauthorization of the Head Start program in the mid-1990s, 

Congress imposed new performance and professional competency requirements. Specifically, at least 50 percent of Head Start teachers nation-wide were to have a baccalaureate or advanced degree in early childhood education or a baccalaureate or advanced degree in any subject and coursework equivalent to a major relating to early 

childhood education with experience teaching preschool-age children, and 50 percent 

of all teacher assistants were to have had an associate’s degree or enrolled in an 

associate’s program. While the department may be prepared to declare that this nationwide goal has been achieved, far less than half of Head Start teachers in the 

American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start Program area hold an associate’s or 

bachelor’s degree. Indian children deserve the best, and the TCUs are ideal catalysts 

for preparing Indian Head Start teachers so that they might offer these children the 

Head Start programs they deserve. Until the mid-2000s, the TCU-Head Start program helped TCUs build capacity in early childhood education and provided scholarships and stipends for Indian Head Start teachers and teacher’s aides to enroll in 

TCU early childhood programs. Unfortunately, the program was eliminated despite 

the great need to expand educational opportunities for Head Start teachers and 

aides. 

Teacher Preparation: Of the 34 accredited TCUs, 29 offer early childhood and elementary education associate’s degrees and 10 TCUs have their own elementary education bachelor’s degree programs. In fact, education program students represent 10 

percent of all declared majors at TCUs and in 2011–12; 10 percent of all certificates 

and degrees earned at TCUs were in education. Growth in the American Indian 

teacher workforce is critically important because we know that children learn best 

and are more likely to graduate high school and attend college when they have 

teachers with whom they can relate—teachers who look like them. 

TCUs are committed to building a Native-speaking teacher workforce, and all 

TCU elementary education programs stress culturally and developmentally appropriate pedagogy and embed community values and tribal culture in the content. 

Their strategies are working. For example, half of all the Native special education 

teachers in Montana graduated from Salish Kootenai College. At Blackfeet Community College students who decide to major in Blackfeet language or Blackfeet studies 

are strongly encouraged to apply for the Class 7 Teaching License through Montana’s Office of Public Instruction office. Today, BCC and SKC could easily enroll 

40–50 American Indian teacher aides in elementary education bachelor’s degree programs if we had funding to provide scholarships and expand our capacity. But the 

key federal funding source for tribal teacher development, operated by the Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education, has been on a downward funding 

trend almost since it was re-established in 2000. 

BCC has not received a grant through the program for several years. Still, we continue to encourage success, including developing a behavioral health training program for K–12 teacher’s aides on our reservation, so they can recognize and help 

address fundamental challenges facing our little ones. We need your help, Mr. 

Chairman, to reinforce the TCUs’ role in American Indian teacher preparation and 

increase the number of TCUs able to participate in the grant program designed to 

build an American Indian Teacher/Administrator Corps. 

Dual Credit: American Indian youth have the highest high school drop-out rates 

in the nation. Research tells us that keeping students engaged and setting achievable goals and realistic expectations are keys to completion. For this reason, nearly 

all of the TCUs are currently engage in dual credit programs that are designed to 

keep American Indian high school students engaged in school, to graduate, and to 

pursue higher education goals. All of these programs are offered at little or no cost 

for the students and high schools. The TCUs—without any compensation from 

states or the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)—offer this service at our expense 

26 

because we know it is one very effective way to help save our American Indian children. It gives them a path to a better future and opens a world of opportunity. 

TCUs will continue to offer these life-changing and life-saving programs, but over 

the past few years, we have been urging the BIE and various states to work with 

us to expand these programs and level the playing field. 

Improve Native Workforce Opportunity: Re-establish the TCU Adult Basic Ed/ 

GED Training Program: In the mid-1990s Congress eliminated a modest set-aside 

within the Adult Basic Education block grant program that funded vitally needed 

TCU GED and ABE training programs. Now, all federal funding goes to the states, 

which rarely—and minimally—fund tribal GED programs. Despite the absence of 

dedicated funding, TCUs must find a way, often using already insufficient institutional operating funds, to continue to provide adult basic education classes for those 

American Indians that the present K–12 Indian education system has failed. Before 

many individuals can even begin the course work needed to learn a productive skill, 

they first must earn a GED. The new GED exam, which was instituted in January 

2014, has a much stronger focus on mathematics. As noted earlier, placement tests 

for TCU-entering students reveal a tremendous need for math remediation. Additionally, the new GED test is fully computerized. While younger GED seekers may 

be comfortable with computer-based testing, older citizens may not be. These factors 

indicate a continuing and growing need for adult basic educational programs and 

GED preparation on Indian reservations. TCUs must have sufficient and stable 

funding to continue to provide these essential services and to ensure their communities’ residents have the same chances to succeed as others throughout the country. 

American Indians have the highest high school drop-out rates, highest unemployment, and highest poverty rates in the nation. With the launch of the new GED, 

the need for this modest program (ED–OVAE) is even more critical. The fix is simple, no-cost, and life-changing. 

Egregious Funding Inequities: Despite a proven return on investment, trust responsibility, and binding treaty obligations, Tribal Colleges have never been adequately funded by the federal government. The Tribally Controlled Colleges & Universities Assistance Act of 1978 authorizes $8,000/Indian Student (ISC) for TCUs’ 

operating budgets, but TCUs currently are receiving only $5,850/Indian student. 

The president requests and Congress appropriates over $200 million annually to operate Howard University (HU), the only other Minority Serving Institution that receives federal operating funds. HU’s federal operating funding is almost $22,000/student. HU needs this funding—so do TCUs. 

Congress designated TCUs as land-grant institutions in 1994. Our USDA partnership is important because as American Indians, land is central to who we are. We 

are people of a place. Yet, the TCU (1994) land-grant programs are absurdly small 

compared to other land-grants, even though some of the reservations served by 1994 

institutions are larger than several states. Here are the numbers for FY 2014: 

Program TCUS (1994s)—34 States (1862s) HBCUs (1890s)—17 

Extension (community 

outreach) 

$4.4 million—competitive $300 million—formula $43.9 million 

AG/land Research 

(basic, applied) 

$1.8 million $243.7 million $52.5 million ($1M 

minimum) 

FERTEP, CYFAR, 

McIntire-Stennis 

NO YES YES 

In addition to the basic funding inequity, the 1862 and 1890 land-grant institutions are eligible to compete for millions of dollars in funding from seven additional 

programs known as Smith-Lever 3(d) programs, including a Federal Recognized 

Tribes Extension Program and a Children, Youth and Families at Risk initiative, 

in which the 1994 Tribal College land-grants are barred from participation. Consistent with the philosophy of exclusion, the 1994 institutions also are barred from 

participating in the McIntire-Stennis Forestry program. This is particularly problematic in Montana, because Salish Kootenai College—which has the only 4-year 

forestry degree program among the TCUs—is shut out of this vital program despite 

the tremendous need for applied research on tribal forests. Some people do not like 

to hear about these disparities. Yet, these are the facts. 

The negative funding impact for Tribal colleges and our students is compounded 

in that we are already being disproportionately impacted by ongoing efforts to reduce the federal budget deficit and control federal spending. The FY 2011 Continuing Resolution eliminated all of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) community-based programs, including 

a critically needed TCU–HUD facilities program. Through this modest but vital proVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
27 

gram, TCUs were able to maximize leveraging potential, often 10-to-1, securing far 

greater non-HUD funding to construct and equip Head Start and early childhood 

centers; student and community computer laboratories and public libraries; and student and faculty housing in rural and remote communities where few and sometimes none of these facilities existed. 

Important STEM programs, administered by the National Science Foundation and 

NASA were also cut, and for the first time since the NSF program was established 

in FY 2001, no new TCU–STEM awards were made in FY 2011. While NSF–TCUP 

grants resumed in FY 2012, a year of grant opportunity was lost. Additionally, 

TCUs and their students suffer the realities of cuts to programs such as GEAR– 

UP, TRIO, SEOG, and are seriously impacted by the new highly restrictive Pell 

Grant eligibility criteria more profoundly than mainstream institutions of higher 

education, which can realize economies of scale due to large endowments, alternative funding sources, including the ability to charge higher tuition rates and enroll more financially stable students, and access to affluent alumni. The loss of opportunities that cuts to DoEd, HUD, NSF, and NASA programs represent to TCUs, 

is magnified by cuts to workforce development programs within the Department of 

Labor, nursing and allied health professions tuition forgiveness and scholarship programs operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, and an important TCU-based nutrition education program planned by USDA. Combined, these 

cuts strike at the most economically disadvantaged and health-challenged Americans. 

Mr. Chairman, the issues I have outlined demonstrate that the educational challenges we face are systemic. Studies, pilot projects, short-lived funding strategies 

have led us to some viable, cost-effective, and proven solutions. What will it take 

to move forward? It will take two things: First, a commitment to act—a commitment 

to move beyond talk and toward a common vision for Strong Tribal Nations through 

Excellence in Tribal Higher Education. Second, it will take resources, albeit modest, 

to make an investment in proven strategies for success. What will Congress and the 

nation get for the modest investments outlined below? I can guarantee a rate of return on your investment of at least 14.3 percent. According to an independent analysis by the American Association of Community Colleges, the nation’s community 

colleges—which includes all tribal colleges—yield a return of $5.80 for every dollar 

spent (or a 14.3 percent rate of return), for academic programs alone. For TCUs, 

this accounts for about one-third of all of our students, so an investment in TCUs 

should yield an even higher return. 

Recommendations 

Recommendation One: Revive the TCU-Head Start Partnership program by directing the Head Start Bureau to designate a minimum of $7 million of the $8.86 billion 

recommended for Head Start Programs in the FY 2015 Budget, to the TCU-Head 

Start Partnership program, to revive this vital partnership and ensure that this program can continue and expand so that all TCUs have the opportunity to participate 

in the TCU-Head Start partnership program and help in achieving the goals of 

Head Start for children in Indian Country. 

Recommendation Two: Specifically and clearly reinforce the lead role of TCUs in 

American Indian Teacher Preparation by increasing the required partnerships with 

a TCU in applying for American Indian Teacher/Administrator Corps professional 

development grants designed to increase the number of American Indian teachers 

and administrators serving their reservation communities and provide a minimum 

of $10,000,000 to fund these critically needed competitive awarded grants. 

Recommendation Three: Re-establish a TCU Adult Basic Education competitive 

grants program. TCUs recommend that a minimum of $8,000,000 of the funds appropriated annually for the Adult Education and Family Literacy grants be made 

available to make competitive awards to TCUs to help meet the growing demand 

for adult basic education and remediation program services on their respective reservations. 

Recommendation Four: Congress should direct the Bureau of Indian Education to 

develop and fund a mechanism to reimburse and expand dual credit programs for 

BIE high school students attending TCUs; and to the extent possible, Congress 

should encourage states to reimburse TCUs for dual credit courses, just as they do 

every other public institution of higher education in their state. 

Recommendation Five: Adopt a 5–Year Plan to Address Long-term TCU Inequalities in Federal Programs. We need a commitment to establishing a process, beginning in the FY2015 Budget/Appropriations cycle, that: (1) identifies current funding 

inequities faced by TCUs in federal programs; and (2) works steadily to rectify 

them. As a first step, we urge the Committee to specifically question the DepartVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
28 

ment of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture on these inequities and 

their efforts to address them. 

In closing, Mr. Chairman, we recognize and greatly appreciate you as a strong 

proponent of the Tribal Colleges and Universities. And now more than ever, we need 

your help. The time for studies, commissions, and talk is past. We all know the 

problems. TCUs have solutions. We have created tribal institutions that are sound 

and stable; that have a high return on investment; and that have the power to 

transform Indian Country. We ask that you and the members of this committee 

work with us to find viable ways of achieving our fair funding goals so that we may 

continue to bring access and excellence to our students and the communities we 

serve. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

We have two votes at 4 o’clock. I want to get through this panel 

before we have to leave. I want to hear what Mr. Monette has to 

say. 

Go ahead, Cheryl. 

STATEMENT OF CHERYL CRAZY BULL, PRESIDENT/CEO, 

AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND 

Ms. CRAZY BULL. Good afternoon, Chairman Tester and honorable Senators. My name is Cheryl Crazy Bull. I am the President 

and CEO of the American Indian College Fund. 

The mission of the fund is to support programs and operations 

of this Nation’s tribal colleges and universities and to provide 

scholarships for access and success for tribal college students and 

for a limited number of Native students attending mainstream institutions. Our support is made possible through the generous contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations, because we 

bring private sector resources to tribal colleges and universities 

and their students. 

You are already aware of the significant gap in participation in 

higher education by Native people. A contributing factor is the 

funding for financial aid for these students. The average income of 

first-time entering students at TCUs is $15,262. The average cost 

of a TCU education is $13,800. Only one in 20 of the fund scholarship applicants can afford to go to college without financial aid. 

Nationally, 36 percent of students receive Pell, but at tribal colleges, the average is 80 percent and in some cases as high as 90 

percent. The gap between the average cost of $13,800 and a maximum Pell award of $5,645 is $8,155 of unmet need. 

I also want to note that the Pell grant participation is not a substitute for adequate Federal operational funding of the TCUs. I also 

want to note that only two TCUs participate in Federal loan programs. As TCUs have grown 23 percent in the last five years, this 

gap will continue to be a significant issue. 

Our institutions are rural and technologically isolated. Transportation remains a huge concern. Fifty-nine percent of TCU students 

are first generation students, and our students continue to combat 

significant social and educational issues, such as generational poverty and unemployment. 

The college fund has a major role in supporting access and success. In 2013, we provided over 6,000 scholarships averaging 

$1,403 through 226 different scholarship programs. In the last 25 

years, we have given approximately $78 million out in nearly 

100,000 scholarships. 

29 

We were recently selected, along with the American Indian Graduate Center, to administer the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund. 

The first meeting with the Cobell board of trustees will be next 

week, and we expect to begin distributing scholarships this fall. 

Our road map for tribal higher education through the college 

fund is to support strategies that help us achieve what other national organizations and the President have supported, which is a 

60 percent post-secondary credentialing or degree completion 

among the population served by our tribal colleges. At the American Indian College Fund, we support early childhood education in 

K–12 programs associated with the tribal colleges, create opportunities for access in meaningful post-secondary education experiences that support persistence and completion of our students, 

which leads to gainful employment. 

We need our tribal colleges to remain open, to be financially viable and to grow as institutions. So we need your continued support 

for full funding of tribal colleges and their students, for the support 

of adult and remedial education, to support child care and expanded student support services, all within your domain as the 

Senate Committee, in order for us to have our shared dream of 

prosperity come true. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Crazy Bull follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHERYL CRAZY BULL, PRESIDENT/CEO, AMERICAN INDIAN

COLLEGE FUND

Introduction 

Greetings. I am Cheryl Crazy Bull, a citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate from 

the Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota and the President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund. Thank you for inviting me here today to talk to you about 

the financial needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students when seeking 

a higher education at tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). 

About the American Indian College Fund 

The American Indian College Fund (the College Fund) is a non-stock corporation 

with tax-exempt status pursuant to Internal Revenue Service Code Section 

501(c)(3). The College Fund was established 25 years ago by the American Indian 

Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) with the mission to provide scholarships to 

American Indian and Alaskan Native students seeking a higher education and to 

support tribal colleges and universities that are located on or near Indian reservations. Tribal colleges and universities, also known as TCUs, are located on or near 

Indian reservations to provide Native people with access to an affordable, culturally 

sensitive, quality higher education. 

Native and Tribal College Student Profile 

Nationwide, Native youth face some of the lowest high school graduation rates. 

American Indian/Alaska Native educational attainment rates are the lowest of all 

ethnic and racial groups. Less than 13 percent of American Indian and Alaska Natives earned a college degree as compared to 28 percent of other racial groups (U.S. 

Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics). 

The reason for low higher education attainment amongst Native people may be 

due in part to poverty, making financial assistance critical for Native student success. The average income of first-time entering TCU students is $15,262, contrasted 

with the average cost of a TCU education at $13,800 (of which the average annual 

tuition cost of $2,964 is included) (Source: AIHEC). Studies of American Indian College Fund scholarship applicants show that only 1 in 20 can afford to attend college 

without financial assistance. (Source: American Indian College Fund). This should 

be no surprise based on the economic profile of our students’ communities. Seven 

of the 10 poorest counties in the United States have a TCU, and on TCU reservations unemployment rates are generally greater than 50 percent. (Source: AIHEC). 

Tribal college students’ participation in the federal Pell Grant program is also an 

excellent indicator of financial need. As you know, only the neediest students are 

30 

eligible for Pell Grants. Students attending tribal colleges demonstrate very high 

need by the high percentage of students who receive Pell Grants at tribal colleges. 

The national average for all students receiving Pell Grants at all schools in academic year 2012–2013 was 36 percent (Source: College Board). Tribal colleges have 

a much higher percentage of students who receive Pell Grants, with approximately 

80 percent of TCU students receiving Pell Grants. The number is even higher at 

some tribal colleges with more than 90 percent of their student body receiving Pell 

Grants (Source: AIHEC). 

Pell Grants help fill some of the gap for tribal college students, but it is not enough. The maximum Pell Grant amount per academic year is $5,645. With an average cost of TCU education at $13,800, that leaves an average of $8,155 in unmet 

need. Unfortunately, only two TCUs participate in the federal student loan program, 

leaving that need unfilled for most Native students (Source: AIHEC). 

Despite inadequate and inequitable federal funding for TCUs (tribal colleges are 

the most poorly funded institutions of higher learning in the United States compared to historically black colleges and universities and state land-grant institutions) TCUs themselves help to bridge the need gap by writing off an average of 

$100,000 in uncollectable tuition costs annually. (Source: AIHEC). 

With so much unmet student need for funding and the trend TCUs are seeing in 

enrollment growth by 23 percent over the past five years as more students see a 

higher education as a path to self-subsistence and a better life, the need will only 

increase. (Source: AIHEC). Scholarships and programmatic support for the TCUs 

are the way to match that need. Unmet need will only result in fewer students and 

lost opportunities for Native people to become self-sufficient, providing better lives 

for themselves, their families, and opportunities for their entire communities. 

Non-Financial Profile of Native Students Attending Tribal Colleges 

In addition to growing up and living in areas burdened with disproportionate 

rates of poverty, tribal college students also face other unique challenges which can 

interfere with their ability to obtain a higher education. 

Many tribal college students travel staggering distances to attend college. The average commute for a tribal college student is 30–100 miles one way (Source: 

AIHEC). And in rural reservation communities, there is often no transportation system in place. When living in poverty, a car (or money for gas) is another cost that 

makes attending college impossible without financial assistance. Distance learning 

might help fill the gap for students with transportation challenges, but low bandwidth in many reservation communities and the fact that so many Native people 

do not have computers in the home make this unrealistic at present for many students and potential students. (According to the Federal Communications Commission in 2011, American Indian tribes could be the most underserved group of Americans in the country, with only 68 percent having access to telephones and less than 

10 percent to broadband. According to the FCC, the actual percentage, based on anecdotal evidence, may be even lower, at just 5 to 8 percent. By comparison, approximately 65 percent of all Americans use broadband.) 

Tribal college students also have family commitments that create financial need, 

such as children they care for, or elders. Although this has become less of a concern 

as more students entering TCUs are younger, it is always an issue in Native communities, where extended families often live together. For the academic year 2011– 

2012, twenty-nine percent of first-time TCU students were between the ages of 25 

and 34, with 27 percent between the ages of 18 and 21, 18 percent between the ages 

of 35 and 49, 17 percent between the ages of 22–24, 7 percent between the ages of 

50–64, 1 percent between the ages of 15–17, and 1 percent age 65 and greater. 

(Source: AIHEC). In addition, 59 percent of all students (and 52 percent of first-time 

entering students) at tribal colleges are the first in their families to attend college. 

(Source: AIHEC). 

Tribal colleges are open admission institutions, no student is turned away. This 

means that anywhere from a few to dozens of students from the rural communities 

located on or near reservations attend TCUs. As a result, tribal colleges serve a 

unique role as rural education providers throughout many states in the Upper Midwest, Great Plains and in the Southwest. 

Tribal college students’ financial need is compounded by the social issues they are 

confronted with, including the lack of role models, identity and self-esteem issues 

rooted in historical trauma, generational poverty and unemployment, and continued 

oppression. 

These issues are in turn compounded by issues of academic readiness and lack 

of modern services in schools and Native communities, including low college preparedness levels of Native youth (74 percent require remedial math instruction and 

50 percent requiring remedial reading or writing), and inadequate funding for Title 

31 

III student support services, and the lack or scarcity of college counselors and 21st 

century counseling programs available to high school students in Native communities. (Source: AIHEC). 

How the American Indian College Fund Helps Fill the Gap 

The American Indian College Fund is the largest private provider of scholarships 

to American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) students in the United States. We 

attempt to fill the need gap by providing desperately needed scholarships to tribal 

college students. We provide scholarships by fundraising with private donors, including individuals, corporations, and foundations who generously support our mission. 

In order to qualify for a scholarship with the American Indian College Fund, students must meet the following minimum criteria: have U.S. citizenship; be enrolled 

in an accredited tribal college or university; be enrolled full-time enrollment is required for the Full Circle Scholarship Program, but not for the TCU Scholarship 

Program; be registered as a member of a federal or state recognized tribe, or a descendant of at least one grandparent or parent who is an enrolled tribal member 

(Alaska Natives may also use Native Corporation membership); submit a completed 

on-line application; and have a minimum cumulative grade point average of a 2.0 

for the Full Circle Scholarship Program (there is no grade point average requirement for the TCU Scholarship Program). 

In the academic year 2012–13 the American Indian College Fund funded 

3831American Indian and Alaska Native students with an average scholarship of 

$1,403 per recipient. The College Fund administered 226 scholarship programs that 

year. In sum total, in our 25 years the American Indian College Fund has provided 

nearly 100,000 scholarships totaling $78,000,000. (Source: American Indian College 

Fund). 

The total number of applications the American Indian College Fund received for 

both Full Circle and TCU Scholarships since 2010 is as follows (Source: American 

Indian College Fund): 

Year 

Full Circle 

program tribal college apps 

Full Circle 

program nontribal college apps 

Full Circle 

program total apps 

TCU program apps Total apps 

submitted 

Unduplicated 

count of recipi- ents 

09–10 313 69 382 5056 5438 3484 

10–11 525 500 1025 4957 5982 3529 

11–12 467 658 1125 5314 6439 4218 

12–13 1228 1452 2680 5900 8580 3831 

13–14 1874 2296 4170 5462 9632 n/a 

14–15 2040 2806 4846 n/a n/a n/a 

(2014–2015 data current as of June 1, 2014) 

While the main focus of the College Fund is to support tribal college students, we 

also provide scholarships to AIAN students at public and private colleges all across 

the nation. In the last 5 years 660 non-tribal college students have received scholarship awards totaling over $8,400,000. 

The Cobell Education Scholarship Fund 

In addition to providing scholarships through our partnerships with private donors, the American Indian College Fund was named by the U.S. Department of the 

Interior and the plaintiffs of Cobell v. Salazar to administer the Cobell Education 

Scholarship Fund. Graduate student scholarships will comprise 20 percent of the 

annual awards, and the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) of Albuquerque, 

New Mexico, was named by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the plaintiffs 

to distribute the graduate student scholarships. 

The scholarship was created as part of the $3.4 billion Cobell settlement 

(IndianTrust.com) through the vision and leadership of the late Elouise Cobell, a 

member of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, who initiated a class action lawsuit 

in 1996 on behalf of American Indians whose trust land funds had been mismanaged by the federal government on behalf of individual Indian land owners for 

decades. Before her passing, Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the case, said the set-aside 

of funds from the settlement for a higher education would ‘‘mean a great deal. . .to 

the Indian youth whose dreams for a better life including the possibility of one day 

attending college can now be realized.’’ 

The implementation agreement between the American Indian College Fund, the 

Department of the Interior, and the plaintiffs was signed in March 2014. 

32 

To qualify for the scholarships, under the terms of the settlement agreement, students must meet the following criteria: Be an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe or a direct descendant of a federally recognized tribe and be attending 

an accredited post-secondary vocational education at a vocational institution and is 

seeking a certificate in a career program; or an accredited four-year degree-granting 

public or private university and seeking an undergraduate degree; or an accredited 

public or private institution and seeking a graduate degree. 

A Board of Trustees has been named to manage the Cobell Education Scholarship 

Fund. The first board meeting is scheduled June 17, 2014, to be held in Denver, 

Colorado. Members of the Board of Trustees include: Carla Fredericks, Three Affiliated Tribes, American Indian College Fund representative; Turk Cobell, Blackfeet, 

plaintiffs’ representative; Alex Pearl, Chickasaw; plaintiffs’ representative; Pam 

Agoyo, Cochiti, Kewa, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblos; Department of Interior representative; and Jean O’Brien, White Earth Ojibwe, Department of Interior representative. 

The American Indian College Fund received an initial payment of nearly $580,000 

on April 22, 2014. Most of this payment will seed administration of the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund and the operations costs of the Cobell board of trustees. 

We hope to receive a second payment to fund fall scholarships, and we will begin 

the full scholarship cycle after fall 2014. Establishing an endowment will be part 

of those efforts pending board of trustees’ approval. 

A web site has been created for the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund at 

www.ccobellscholarships.org where individuals can read news about the settlement 

and the scholarship fund, link to application portals for the scholarship, review the 

audited financials of the American Indian College Fund, and read information about 

student scholars after scholarships begin distribution. 

Road Map for the Future 

As we see the numbers of Native students enrolling at tribal colleges increasing, 

there is a growing need for scholarships and funding for programs at the tribal colleges that impact student success—while the unmet need continues for current tribal college students. 

The American Indian College Fund’s plan for the future is simple: we want to 

educate 60 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native people served by our tribal colleges and universities by 2025. With an educated American Indian and Alaska 

Native citizenry dedicated to working for change in their communities, we can 

transform Indian Country from a landscape of desperation to places of aspiration, 

inspiration, and imagination. This transformation contributes to a better America, 

one where equity and social justice thrive, and where diversity and identity are valued. 

The American Indian College Fund will implement a four-step plan to provide students with financial access to a post-secondary education and to support tribal college programs and initiatives focused on student support so tribal college students 

succeed to positively impact their families and their communities. In the past 25 

years the American Indian College Fund has distributed approximately $76,000,000 

to support TCU capacity-building and student success efforts at the tribal colleges. 

Funding is also needed in this arena to ensure student success. 

Step one of the plan includes funding the following programs to prepare students 

for future success. Students in grades kindergarten-fifth grade: early childhood education; Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics (STEM) programs and initiatives; literacy; and Native language and cultural immersion. Students in sixthtwelfth grade: STEM programs and initiatives; leadership and mentoring; cultural 

education programs; learning labs; tutoring, study skills, and career planning; and 

bridge programs including early college programs. 

Step two of the plan includes providing access to post-secondary education, including career and skills advising; GED preparation; college readiness and academic 

preparedness; financial support to make postsecondary education affordable; and 

building partnerships with high schools and community resources. 

Step three is to provide meaningful higher learning opportunities, including academic, career, and technical education programs for a variety of career paths and 

skill levels; integrating technology as a resource for student learning and institutional advancement of student success; cultural integration and place-based educational strategies, including Native language; apprenticeships and internships; initiatives to support student adaptation to higher education for success; mentoring 

programs; leadership programs; fellowships and faculty development; development 

of candidates for future professional education; accreditation support; and partnerships and collaboration with private entities for supportive, cutting-edge learning 

opportunities. 

33 

Step four is to provide support for meaningful employment for tribal college graduates. Programs include counseling and support for new or first-time employment; 

career advancement planning; career centers; job search workshops and support; 

leadership programs; mentoring; and follow-up with tribal college alumni to assess 

program impact. 

As we move forward into our next 25 years, the College Fund will strategically 

bring private sector dollars to the tribal colleges and their students to support all 

areas of institutional development and community outreach. The trust responsibility 

of the federal government to provide equitable and high quality educational access 

and success for AIAN is essential. We support the goals of AIHEC and the tribal 

colleges to develop greater federal funding to support tribal college student success 

in the following areas, particularly if sequestration is re-instituted: (1) federal funding for TCU operations so they can remain open and keep tuition low to provide 

student access to a higher education; (2) funding for GED/ABE programs so students can complete high school and continue their educations (on average, less than 

50 percent of Native students graduate from high school each year in the seven 

states with the highest percentage of American Indian and Alaska Native students, 

according to The Civil Rights Project); (3) funding for day care centers at the TCUs 

(which are currently subsidized by about $250,000/year); and (4) funding for TCU 

student support services that directly impact student success, retention, and graduation rates. 

Thank you for the opportunity to share testimony about the scholarships and program support for tribal colleges and their students. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Cheryl. 

Dr. Purce? 

STATEMENT OF THOMAS ‘‘LES’’ PURCE, PRESIDENT, 

EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE 

Dr. PURCE. As a four-year interdisciplinary liberal arts college, 

Evergreen has been a leader in the advancement of higher education for American Indian students since the 1970s. Evergreen 

works on a government-to-government basis with tribes to jointly 

develop programs that respond to the needs of tribal people in the 

Northwest. 

Our longhouse, our house of welcome, is an educational cultural 

center that was built in cooperation with our Native tribes and one 

of the first public buildings in the United States with that mission. 

Evergreen offers three distinctive academic programs: a masters 

of public administration in tribal governance which began in 2002, 

which focuses on structures, processes and issues specific to tribal 

governments, preparing students for a wide range of jobs in tribal, 

Federal, State and local government. Evergreen’s MPA program is 

the first degree program in this discipline. Our program has served 

as a model for other programs that are developing in the United 

States. 

Second, our Native American and World Indigenous People Studies program on our Evergreen campus works to apply indigenous 

perspectives to Native studies and examines the effect of rural 

American social values and structures on Native history and contemporary life. The curriculum focuses on vitality and diversity of 

Native nations and respects the values of indigenous knowledge. 

Third, our undergraduate Reservation Based Community Determined program is designed for place-bound students in reservations in their communities. This program has been reservation 

based from the beginning with most classes held on the reservations in western Washington. By design, the program’s curriculum 

is guided by suggestions from tribal leaders, tribal education staff, 

34 

and other tribal specialists to ensure that the program’s content 

addresses significant issues in Indian Country. 

Our work and leadership in the advancement of higher education 

for Native American students is an evolving part of the college. We 

have named a special assistant to the President for tribal government relations to further strengthen the government-to-government relations between Evergreen, tribes in the United States and 

particularly in the Pacific Northwest. 

Evergreen is also building future opportunities through an effort 

to expand our Longhouse Education Center. The college is embarking on a phase two plan to support the expansion and development 

of an indigenous arts campus and a launching of a masters in fine 

arts in indigenous arts. 

In summary, the decisions we make today will have implications 

long into the future. Now is the time at which, we like to say at 

Evergreen, we must all dig deep and ensure that there is a national commitment to advancing higher education for American Indian students today and for the generations to come. We must 

make an investment to ensure that American Indian students have 

access to higher education, have resources necessary to be successful and that they graduate with the skills and credentials they 

need to make a difference for their communities and for their families. 

The stakes are too high. We live in an increasingly complex 

world. And the tribal leaders are challenged to respond to the real 

impact of climate change and other threats to the environment, to 

treaty sovereignty and other challenges. At the same time, there 

are unprecedented opportunities through a variety of the kinds of 

economic development, changing technology, and the fastest growing demographic, Native youth. Well-educated tribal members can 

help negotiate the changing train on behalf of their communities. 

The landscape in higher education is changing quickly and dramatically. The students in higher education and those who are at 

our doorstep are more diverse racially, ethnically and financially. 

If the United States is to be a competitive global Nation, we must 

make sure that each student is able to reach back and pull up the 

next generation. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Purce follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THOMAS ‘‘LES’’ PURCE, PRESIDENT, EVERGREEN STATE

COLLEGE

Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the Committee, 

thank you for the opportunity to testify this afternoon about higher education for 

American Indian students. 

My name is Les Purce, and I am the President of The Evergreen State College 

in Olympia, Washington. Since opening our doors in 1971, Evergreen has established a national reputation for leadership in developing innovative interdisciplinary, collaborative and team-taught academic programs. We have a vibrant undergraduate program, three graduate programs, and public service centers that constitute a unique academic setting. Evergreen, the smallest public, baccalaureate institution in Washington with nearly 4,400 students, values a student-centered learning environment, a link between theory and practice, and a multicultural community of diverse faculty, students and staff working together. 

The vibrancy and leadership of Evergreen is clearly illustrated in the College’s unparalleled combination of academic and public service programs, designed in partnership with Northwest tribes, to make a lasting impact on education in Indian 

35 

Country. Since the 1970s, with the founding of the College, Evergreen has been a 

leader in the advancement of higher education for American Indian students. The 

College today embraces its Native student community of 6.1 percent—which is more 

than twice the proportion of 2.5 percent Native student across all public four-year 

colleges in Washington. An astounding 11.9 percent of all Evergreen graduate students are Native American, compared to only 2.2 percent of graduate students attending public universities statewide. The college’s faculty is 6.5 percent Native, as 

are 4.7 percent of the College’s noninstructional staff. 

Evergreen’s focuses on access to higher education for American Indian student 

goes hand in hand with our commitment to student success. American Indian undergraduate students experience an 81 percent fall-tofall retention rate, which is 

nearly identical to the College’s 82 percent retention rate for undergraduates overall. 

As stated by Bill Frank, Jr. (Nisqually), former member of the Evergreen Board 

of Trustees, ‘‘Evergreen is an institution of education that conveys the lessons of the 

past to the leaders of tomorrow. Through Native American and World Indigenous 

Peoples Studies, Evergreen transcends the limits of education to reach out to people 

of all backgrounds and beliefs.’’ 

Evergreen’s Native American Academic and Public Service Programs: Our 

History and the Present 

Our work and commitment to institutionalize the importance of advancing higher 

education for Native American students in partnership with tribal governments 

began in the early 1970s when the College was founded. In keeping with Washington State’s Centennial Accord, Evergreen works on a government-to-government 

basis with tribes to jointly develop programs that respond to the needs of tribal people in the Northwest. Together these programs enable the college to continue and 

expand upon its history of responding, in partnership, to the educational needs of 

indigenous peoples. 

Evergreen’s ‘‘House of Welcome’’ Longhouse and Education and Cultural Center 

was the first building of its kind on a public campus in the United States. Over the 

last forty years the Longhouse has provided service and hospitality to students, the 

College, and the surrounding Native communities. The Longhouse has created a 

home and community base for artists and arts organizations throughout the United 

States and around the Pacific Rim. Its mission is to promote indigenous arts and 

cultures through education, cultural preservation, creative expression and economic 

development through the Native Artists Grants Programs, Native Artist Gatherings, 

Native Art Sales and Exhibitions, Artist-in-Resident Program, Northwest Heritage 

Program and International Indigenous Artists Exchange Program. Today the 

Longhouse manages a database of more than 2,000 indigenous artists, art organizations and arts supporters from four countries: the United States, Canada, Australia 

and New Zealand. 

The spirit of the Longhouse is recreated on campus each day through dedicated 

outreach in response to the needs of indigenous peoples attending Evergreen. First 

Peoples Advising Services provides support to assist students in achieving their academic and personal goals through comprehensive academic, social and personal advising, referrals to campus and community resources and community-building educational events. 

Evergreen offers three distinct academic programs. The Master of Public Administration (MPA) in Tribal Governance, which began in 2002, focuses on structures, 

processes and issues specific to tribal governments, preparing students for a wide 

range of jobs in tribal, federal, state and local governments and nonprofit organizations. Evergreen’s MPA program is the first degree-granting program in this discipline and our program has been modeled by others, such as the University of Minnesota at Duluth. 

The Native American and World Indigenous Peoples (NAWIPS) studies, an oncampus undergraduate program, applies indigenous perspectives to Native Studies 

and examines the effects of European/American social values and structures on Native history and contemporary life. NAWIPS curriculum focuses on the vitality and 

diversity of Native nations, and respects the value of indigenous knowledge. It examines the global effects of colonialism, the unique treaty relationships between 

tribal nations and settler governments, political decolonization and cultural revitalization in the contemporary era, and the responsibilities of non-Native neighbors 

and allies in this process. NAWIPS programs focus on the indigenous peoples of the 

Pacific Northwest, the Americas and the world. 

The undergraduate Reservation Based Community Determined program is designed for place-bound students who are deeply connected to tribal communities. 

The program has been ‘‘reservation-based’’ from the beginning with most classes 

36 

held on Indian reservations in western Washington. By design, the program curriculum is guided by suggestions from tribal leaders, tribal education staff, and 

other tribal specialists (for example, Indian Child Welfare workers), to ensure that 

program content addresses significant community issues. Hundreds of students have 

earned their degrees through this program and gone on to graduate school and various positions in tribal government, social services, education, and other fields. 

In addition to these programs, students at Evergreen can work with Native American faculty throughout the undergraduate curriculum (such as in the Expressive 

Arts), and in graduate programs such as the Master of Environmental Studies 

(MES) and Master in Teaching (MIT) programs. In all Evergreen programs, Native 

American students, community members and tribes have a dedicated place in higher 

education, and easy access to technology and research services. 

Evergreen’s academic and public service work is enhanced through specific efforts 

to develop culturally relevant curriculum and teaching resources in the form of case 

studies on key issues in Indian Country. In partnership with the Northwest Indian 

College, Salish Kootenai College, and Grays Harbor College, Evergreen initiated in 

2006 the Enduring Legacies Native Case Initiative. The goal is to develop and widely disseminate culturally relevant curriculum and teaching. This initiative is supported through the Lumina Foundation for Education, the Bill and Melinda Gates 

Foundation and the National Science Foundation. 

The Future 

Our work and leadership in the advancement of higher education for Native 

American students is not yet done, but an evolving part of the College’s identity. 

As the College continues to deepen our relationship with Native American communities we have named a Special Assistant to the President for Tribal Government 

Relations to further strengthen the government-to-government relationships between Evergreen and tribes in the United States, with particular emphasis on the 

Pacific Northwest. In collaboration with The Evergreen State College administration, the Longhouse, the Native Programs at Evergreen, and tribes, this position 

provides leadership in formulating and strengthening tribal relationships, initiatives 

and collaborative partnerships at Evergreen through strategic planning and support 

for Native initiatives and programs at Evergreen. 

Evergreen is also building future opportunities through efforts to expand the 

Longhouse Education and Cultural Center. The College is embarking on Phase II 

of a $7 million capital campaign to support new program development and growth 

through the development of an Indigenous Arts Campus and the launch of a Masters of Fine Arts in Indigenous Art. 

The Longhouse is currently in the process of continuing the design and development of a one of a kind indigenous arts campus where the art-making facilities and 

the surrounding campus are based on indigenous architectural design and cultural 

concepts. Collaboratively planned with Native artists, art scholars, tribal representatives, elected officials and art service organizations, the facility will allow the 

Longhouse to continue to serve as the focal point for coordination and administration of the new arts campus. 

The Longhouse, with support from the Ford Foundation, has secured $1 million 

to build two of the four envisioned art studios on Evergreen’s campus. The first, a 

carving studio in the shape of a replica longhouse, opened in 2012. The second, a 

fiber arts studio, is expected to open in 2016 and will pay tribute to the long-standing relationships among Salish and Maori peoples. 

The Indigenous Arts Campus will provide a series of spaces to foster vibrant culturally interconnected art-making for indigenous peoples along the Pacific Rim. The 

new facilities will allow Evergreen and the Longhouse to leverage the networks and 

creative potential of the Longhouse’s successful intergenerational programs, connect 

programmatically with the initiatives of surrounding tribes, and provide the opportunity for artists to work in media not readily available to them at home while 

being mentored by master artists from around the world. This vision will have far 

reaching economic and cultural impacts for artists, tribes and numerous rural communities by fostering significant professional development of emerging artists and 

opening new markets for their work. 

Evergreen’s Longhouse is also in the early stages of developing the first Masters 

of Fine Arts in Indigenous Arts in the United States. The program, to be launched 

for the 2016–2017 academic year, would provide an arts education that is grounded 

in indigenous cultural values, protocols, practices and forms of knowledge. In particular the degree would develop innovative, student-centered approaches to Indigenous Arts practice within a culturally affirming educational setting; affirm the expertise and academic authority of indigenous artists and scholars; and strategically 

37 

align the Longhouse’s public service mission to promote indigenous arts and cultures with the academic mission of the College. 

In Summary 

The decisions we make today will have implications long into the future. Now is 

the time as we would say at Evergreen to ‘‘Dig Deep’’ and ensure that there is a 

national commitment to advancing higher education for American Indian students 

today and for generations to come, in partnership and collaboration with tribes. We 

must make an investment to ensure that American Indian students have access to 

higher education, have the resources necessary to be successful, and that they graduate with the skills and credentials they need to make a difference for their communities and their families. 

The stakes are too high not to. We live in an increasingly complex world, and tribal leaders are challenged to respond to the very real impact of climate change and 

other threats to the environment, threats to tribal sovereignty, and other challenges. 

At the same time there are unprecedented opportunities through various kinds of 

economic development, changing technologies and the fastest growing demographic—Native youth. Well educated tribal members can help negotiate the changing terrain on behalf of their communities. 

The landscape in higher education is changing quickly and dramatically. The students in higher education and those at the doorstep are more diverse racially, ethnically and financially. If the United States is to be competitive globally well into 

the twenty-first century we must make sure that no one is left behind and that each 

student is able to reach behind and pull the next generation through. 

As stated by Vi Hilbert (1918–2008), Upper Skagit Elder and Daniel J. Evans 

Chair Scholar (1995), ‘‘When I first walked on that campus (Evergreen), the beautiful thing that I felt there was the Spirit. The Spirit said ‘Come. This is a place 

for people to hear what your ancestors wanted you to pass on.’’ 

Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to speak before your Committee 

today. 

The CHAIRMAN. Almost to the second. Thank you, Dr. Purce. 

Mr. Monette? 

STATEMENT OF MELVIN MONETTE, DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE 

FELLOWSHIPS, AMERICAN INDIAN GRADUATE CENTER 

Mr. MONETTE. Chairman Tester and members of the Committee, 

thank you for this opportunity for the American Indian Graduate 

Center to be here. On behalf of Sam Deloria, our Director, and the 

board of directors, we appreciate the invitation. 

The American Indian Graduate Center is a 45 year old national 

non-profit that has been serving American Indian and Alaska Native graduate and professional students since our inception. Among 

our diverse opportunities for funding, we administer 40 annual BIE 

Loans or Service scholarships to students across the Nation. The 

intent of this program is to provide agencies with well-trained, 

highly-qualified individuals to fill vacancies created by retirements 

and other attrition. 

To date, we have funded 330 individuals who are either continuing their education, working in intended areas, seeking employment or have completed their required employment and are remain employed with American Indian or Alaska Native serving institutions or organizations. Additionally, AIGC manages private 

and corporate scholarship funds for both undergrad and graduate 

students. Our award winning program boasts high-level Federal 

appointees, tribal leaders, published researchers, large and small 

private business owners, some of your own congressional staff and 

many community leaders among our alumni. However, the numbers are small, and because we can still count them, name them 

and know them, we know this is not enough. 

38 

For the most recent academic year, 2013–2014, the American Indian Graduate Center funded 545 undergraduate, graduate and 

professional level students. These students represent 149 federallyrecognized tribes, attend schools in 47 States and studied in 161 

academic major areas. They have a combined unmet need of 

$10,049,626 at the time they reported their financial need. 

Besides membership in a federally-recognized tribe, AIGC funds 

students no matter where they sit on the American Indian identity 

spectrum. We are careful, as you should be, not to stereotype 

American Indian students with a narrow model of geographic isolation or culture as an impediment to successful participation in 

higher education. 

Higher education is often a dream for many families. We know 

that the system is broken, the pipeline is broken. We know that finances alone are not enough to provide students with the means 

for their success. We know that pipeline programs and bridge programs need to be funded. We know that families need access to 

bridge programs, programs that are required by many institutions 

that families can’t afford to get to, to stay in and to participate in. 

We also know that oftentimes American Indian student financial 

aid shows up much later than the beginning of the semester, leaving our students fighting for books, borrowing books or waiting 

until they get a book in order to study and do the homework and 

falling far behind. These are students who often are bringing their 

families with them, looking for homes, looking for other opportunities, not just for an academic opportunity for themselves. So they 

are in need of much more than funding. They need their funding 

early on. 

We know that programs that are funded through the Nativeserving non-tribal institution funds, student support services, are 

vital. Our students look for one another, they look for people on 

their campus who can understand them, help them and just see 

them where they are at that point in time and to connect them to 

tribal scholarships, to their tribes, to other people in their community who know and have empathy with them. So we call for those 

programs to be funded. 

While we are looking at other successful programs moving from 

undergraduate to graduate programs, the American Indian Law 

Center hosts the pre-law summer institute at the University of 

New Mexico. We know that this program is highly successful. For 

all students from that program who attend law school, 90 percent 

of them are successful. We believe that framework will work in 

other disciplines. We would like to have you look at that program 

and consider replicating it in the Department of Education programs and other programs, HHS programs, medical programs, and 

provide funding for such. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Monette follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MELVIN MONETTE, DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS, AMERICAN INDIAN GRADUATE CENTER

Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the Committee, 

thank you for inviting the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) to testify. I am 

Melvin Monette, Director of Graduate Fellowships and Special Programs and a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. On behalf of Director Sam 

39 

Deloria and AIGC, I am grateful for this opportunity to provide testimony for the 

record on ‘‘Examining Higher Education for American Indian Students,’’ as part of 

the Committee’s Indian Education series. I would also like to thank the Committee 

for hearing the collective call of tribes and Native communities regarding the need 

to address the current state of Native education. The renewed commitment of this 

Committee to focus on improving all education systems serving Native students is 

critical as we work together to ensure equitable educational opportunities. 

The American Indian Graduate Center, Inc. (AIGC) is the oldest and largest provider of graduate and professional student scholarship services in the United States. 

AIGC is a 45 year old, private, national 501(c)3 located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We have managed the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Special Higher Education Programs contract to provide scholarships and fellowships to over 16,000 

American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) full-time and degree-seeking graduateand professional-level students who are members of federally-recognized tribes 

studying any major of choice at any US accredited institution in the United States. 

AIGC is also the provider of 40 annual BIE Loans for Service to AIAN graduateand professional-level students who intend to seek employment primarily with the 

BIE, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or other federal agencies serving the AIAN communities. The intent is to provide agencies with well trained, highly qualified individuals to fill vacancies created by retirements and other attrition. To date, we have 

funded 330 individuals who are either continuing their education, working in intended areas, seeking employment or have completed the required employment and 

remain employed in AIAN serving organizations. Additionally, AIGC manages private and corporate scholarship funds for both undergraduate and graduate students. 

The award winning program boasts high-level federal appointees, tribal leaders, 

published researchers, large and small private business owners, some of your own 

congressional staff and many community leaders, among our alumni. Our sister program, AIGC Scholars is the American Indian administrative partner for the Gates 

Millennium Scholars Program. AIGC and AIGC Scholars collaborate in student recruitment, outreach, student services and professional development for those institutions serving Native students. 

For the most recent academic year, 2013–2014, AIGC funded 545 undergraduate, 

graduate and professional level AIAN students: 106 Doctoral, 284 Masters, and 145 

Professional. These students represented 149 federally-recognized tribes, attend 

school in 47 states, studied in 161 major areas, and have a combined unmet need 

of $10,049,626 at time of reporting financial need. Besides membership in a federally-recognized tribe, AIGC funds students regardless of where they sit on the 

American Indian identity spectrum. We are careful, as you should be, not to stereotype Indian students with a narrow model of geographic isolation or culture as an 

impediment to successful participation. All Native students are deserving of AIGC 

assistance and capable of the academic success we expect of them. 

American Indian Higher Education Inequitable Outcomes 

Since 1977, American Indian and Alaska Natives have more than tripled in the 

number of baccalaureate degrees conferred each year; however, comparing the percentage distribution of degrees conferred to all other races, AIAN’s have not even 

doubled. While we are enjoying more numbers, comparatively we continue to represent less than 1 percent of all baccalaureate degrees conferred. Unfortunately, the 

collective and average federal student loan data for AIAN’s is statistically insignificant except for the 1999–2000 reporting year which indicates a $22,000 average loan 

debt for 18–24 year-old college seniors. This report does not tell us the average debt 

of AIAN students who have a tendency to be older than the average traditional college student. (Digest of Education Statistics, 2013 Tables and Figures) 

Since 1977, AIAN’s have more than tripled in the number of Master’s degrees conferred each year (1018 to 3674); however, comparing the percentage distribution of 

degrees conferred to all other races, AIAN’s have only doubled. While we are enjoying more numbers, comparatively we continue to represent less than 1 percent of 

all master’s degrees conferred. The Fields of Study most pursued and completed by 

AIAN Master’s level students are Education, Business, Health Professions, Public 

Administration and Social Services, Psychology, and Social Sciences and History. 

(Digest of Education Statistics, 2013 Tables and Figures) 

Since 1977, AIAN’s have more than tripled in the number of Doctoral degrees conferred each (240 to 913); however, comparing the percentage distribution of degrees 

conferred to all other races, AIAN’s have only doubled, in fact we experienced a .1 

percent drop from 2011 to 2012. While we enjoy more numbers, comparatively we 

continue to represent less than 1 percent of all Doctorate degrees conferred. The 

Fields of Study most pursued and completed by AIAN Doctorate level students are 

Health Professions and Related Programs, Legal Professions and Studies, EduVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
40 

cation, Psychology and Biological and Biomedical Sciences. In 2011, AIAN’s made 

up .4 percent of all full-time instructional faculty. Since 2007, the percentage has 

remained the same, while the number has increased less than 200 from 3340 to 

3529. Less than 600 AIAN’s are full professors (.3 percent of the total). Comparatively these faculty earn less, are younger, and have a total household income less 

than their non-Native peers. (Digest of Education Statistics, 2012 and 2013 Tables 

and Figures) 

For the Academic Years 2011 and 2012 AIAN’s received 662 and 618 selected Professional degrees, respectively. Slightly more than half (53 percent) of those degrees 

(688) are Law (LLB or JD) and another 16 percent (214) are MD’s. As a collective, 

health sciences make up 540 (42 percent) of these degrees. The selected professional 

degrees include dentistry (60), medicine (214), optometry (7), osteopathic medicine 

(53), pharmacy (120), podiatry or podiatric medicine (15), veterinary medicine (40), 

chiropractic (31), law (688) and theology (72). (Digest of Education Statistics, 2013 

Tables and Figures) 

At all postsecondary levels, including institutional employment, American Indian 

and Alaska Native people continue to lag behind their non-Native peers. While 

American Indians and Alaska Natives represent 1.7 percent of all people in the US 

(2010 US Census), we continue to represent less than 1 percent of all levels of postsecondary students. We call for funding of programs to create equity for citizens of 

federally-recognized tribes in the United States. Our recommendations include replication of the American Indian Law Center’s Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI) for 

other fields of study. This program has been in existence since 1967 and has over 

90 percent rate of completion for those participants who enter law school. The aforementioned professional degree data is our proof that such programs work; it is no 

accident that Law degrees are more than double those of other professional fields. 

This program doesn’t assume the definition of ‘‘Indian’’ student includes substandard; rather, it assumes all are capable of succeeding in law school and prepares students for the rigor of such by providing them with the requisite reading, 

study and writing skills necessary to succeed in Law School. The program focus is 

industry specific, but the frameworks are replicable to most any professional program. 

The Broken Pipeline to Higher Education 

We are all aware of the dismal state of Native education partly due to lack of 

preparation of the professionals who serve Native students. There is an overrepresentation of Indian children in Special Education because schools don’t know where 

to place students coming from low performing schools. We need to increase the capacity and development of Title VII teachers to work on a tutorial basis, among 

other areas of need, to bring these children up to par with their peers. Native students in tribal, BIE and large urban centers continue to lack access to Advanced 

Placement (AP) and Post-Secondary Education Opportunity (PSEO) courses which 

have been proven to impact college readiness. If AP and PSEO are proven to prepare students for the rigors of college, why can’t the regular classroom teachers be 

challenged to create rigorous coursework for all students? High School counselors 

serving AIAN students spend more time creating schedules and performing disciplinary actions than they do providing college access information. As a former college 

recruiter, I experienced many tribal, BIE and other rural Native serving schools 

deny all students access to information about colleges. The message that any 

amount of higher education is valuable is not getting through to our students. Our 

students are faced with seemingly unmovable obstacles as the numbers show. 

• 23 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native students received special education service in 9th grade in 2009. The next highest group is White students 

at 10 .7 percent. Clearly, we need to make an impact in k–8 education by adequately preparing teachers to work in Native communities. 

• 31 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native students were enrolled in 

high-poverty public schools in the academic year 2010–2011, compared to 6 percent of their white peers. 

• 23 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native students attend schools that 

are comprised of 50 percent or more American Indian and Alaska Native peers 

(16 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native students attend schools that 

are comprised of 75 percent or more American Indian and Alaska Native peers). 

• Fewer American Indian and Alaska Native students attend high schools that 

offer AP or IB courses than all other groups. 

• 29 percent of AIAN 9th graders’ high school counselors report the primary goal 

of the school counseling program is to help students plan and prepare for postsecondary education. This is compared to 41 percent of Hispanic students’ counVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
41 

selors—the next highest group. By 9th grade, 34 percent of AIAN males and 

21 percent of AIAN females have been suspended or expelled; second only to 

black students with 42 percent male and 24 percent female. On all indicators, 

AIAN students reported the highest percentage of 9th grade students who had 

ever been retained a grade. The highest. Second only to black students, 44 percent of AIAN students’ parents were contacted by the school about a child’s 

problem behavior at school and 28 percent had been suspended or expelled. 43 

percent, the highest of all races, of AIAN students’ parents were contacted 

about poor attendance and 50 percent were contacted about poor academic performance. On both measures, AIAN students experienced the highest percentages. 

• 87 percent of AIAN students did not participate in math and science related 

school-sponsored activities. 

• Second only to Hispanic students (15.1 percent), AIAN students dropped out at 

a rate of 12.4 percent in 2010. 

• Less than 1 percent differentiates the graduate rates of Black and AIAN students; both group experience less than 65 percent graduation rates. 

• With the highest percentage of any group at 28.5 percent AIAN students expect 

to complete high school or less. Another 10.9 percent expect to complete some 

college. 

• When it comes to an expectation to complete a bachelor’s degree, AIAN 9th 

grade students fall to the bottom of the list at 11.8 percent while 26 percent 

expect to complete a graduate or professional degree. 

• Fairly equal with their peers, 22 percent of AIAN students don’t know what 

they want to do post-high school. Native teenagers are ‘‘normal’’ when it comes 

to being asked questions about their future. 

• American Indian and Alaska Native students take either the SAT or ACT at 

the lowest rate of all groups—68 percent. 

• The only group below the 90th percentile, 87.4 percent of AIAN seniors in 2004 

planned to continue their education after high school. Of that group 13 percent 

applied to only one college while only 34.4 percent applied to 2 or more colleges. 

When it comes to 5 or more colleges, the numbers for AIAN students was statistically insignificant. 

This profusion of disparities for AIAN k-12 students is well documented. The relationship to higher education is a definite lack of adequate preparation for postsecondary education. How can we expect any student to persist who begins behind from 

the onset? One proposal might include summer enrichment and higher education 

preparation programs that provide life-skills training necessary to navigate life after 

high school. Another might include supporting mentoring and internship opportunities at the local level through federally funded projects which provide meaningful 

experiences necessary for individuals to make educational and career choices. Access 

to individuals who have experienced and completed college provides positive 

mentorship for students. 

Only 27 percent of AIAN students reported participation in college preparatory 

and awareness programs. We must fund federally supported college readiness programs that are proven to work for Indian students. Mandatory summer bridge programs are only effective if students and families have the financial means to attend 

and engage in them. Monies such as the grants to TCU’s and Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions must include specific set-asides for access to these programs. Additional funds must be appropriated to those institutions serving a smaller percentage, yet a critical mass, numerically, to support AIAN and low-income students attendance at the programs that we know work for all students with the economic means to attend. 

Native students have the least access to counselors, family members and online 

resources to plan for higher education. We know that President Obama’s Broadband 

Access initiatives are providing access to more rural and tribal communities; however, as more and more American Indian and Alaska Native students attend online 

education forums, this community level broadband is already overtaxed. More efforts must be put behind increasing household access for Native families to research 

post-secondary opportunities and to complete coursework in timely manners. It is 

reported that in 2006, a reflective study of the 2004 graduating class found that 

AIAN students applied to college at the lowest rate, 75.2 percent—and this is out 

of the percent that graduated. 65.4 percent of this group applied for financial aid. 

42 

Financial Aid 

Again, for the most recent academic year, 2013–2014, AIGC funded 545 undergraduate, graduate and professional level AIAN students: 106 Doctoral, 284 Masters, and 145 Professional. These students represented 149 federally-recognized 

tribes, attend school in 47 states, studied in 161 major areas, and have a combined 

unmet need of $10,049,626 at time of reporting financial need. 

With respect to financial aid, for all levels of higher education, for students who 

are already behind their peers in academics and socialization into college or graduate school, their financial aid package has to be supported. The BIA must release 

tribal scholarship funds for distribution much earlier to meet the needs of incoming 

students. Students contact AIGC, regularly, to request assistance for books, supplies, housing and other items needed for immediate engagement in school. Releasing tribal education dollars at the critical starting point for students will go a long 

way toward persistence. When students don’t have to play catch up, weeks into the 

semester, with their readings and other assignments, they are able to seek, early 

in the term, any other support needed to remain caught up with all work. AIGC 

and AICF cannot provide this funding. These students are not only attending classes. Many AIAN students that we serve are moving children and families to new 

schools, locating accessible housing, maneuvering new health care systems, trying 

to find other resources and navigating a new environment; all while daily, trying 

to work with tribes, AIGC, financial aid offices and business offices to remain in 

school while waiting for the tuition payment to arrive without taking out unnecessarily high amounts of student loans. 

Tribes cannot provide this alone. Institutions cannot be responsible to make up 

the difference. We need a collective. There is a wealth of expertise, within the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid program, that can provide outreach to 

Indian communities. Allocation of funds for such positions is greatly needed. 

We recommend the following: 

1. Increase funding for research opportunities for Natives in graduate programs 

to provide true fellowships to post-secondary institutions for Native students 

without requiring them to agree to ‘‘return home’’ or ‘‘give back’’ as part of 

their funding. It is not expected of other groups and it’s unfair, if not inequitable, to expect Native people to ‘‘return home’’ or ‘‘give back’’. The reality is 

that an extremely high percentage of all graduates work at all levels of public 

service in some capacity. An educated and employed Native professional is 

just as likely to provide for their ‘‘community’’ as any other educated professional. By providing institutions the financial assistance to recruit and retain 

top graduate students, this provision would create equitable access to highlyselective and competitive research institutions where Natives are statistically 

under-represented. 

2. Include Native students receiving BIE loan for service program money, DOE 

discretionary grant assistance and other similar programs in the ‘‘non-compete’’ clauses for federal positions. 

a. VISTA has a one (1) year non-compete status for federal positions. 

3. Include Tribal Citizenship in demographic collections for higher education— 

this would ensure that money intended for tribal citizens is used to fund tribal citizens. Additionally, this provides tribes, the BIE and DOE with true 

numbers of tribal citizens being served at all levels of education. Collecting 

‘‘citizenship’’ status versus ‘‘ethnicity’’ strengthens data, shifts the focus from 

institutions boasting self-identified numbers to those institutions with fewer 

numbers but greater need. As an added bonus, tribes will have access to true 

data and information about their citizens to report return on investment 

numbers. 

4. Either expand the definition of Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions to include those institutions with a specific number of Native citizens 

versus a percentage of the total or provide similar funds to institutions with 

a critical number of Native citizens. Reauthorize and reallocate funds for this 

program, especially in the mandatory funding category—Native students 

shouldn’t be subject to the whims of grant funding. Research tells us that 

some students benefit from the services the NASNTI program intends to provide. There have been no new grantees since 2011. 

5. Expand FERPA to include Tribal Education Departments as they are Local 

Education Agency responsible for reporting data on their citizens. This provision will allow tribal education departments to more effectively align tribal 

resources with community needs. 

43 

6. Continue to press the FCC on issues of Broadband access for tribal communities. The reality is that while broadband access is increasing for tribal communities’ economic centers, it is not reaching citizens who reside in more 

rural areas. With the increased interest of Native students in online education, be it for-profit or non-profit institutions, broadband access is critical 

to the learning experience for these students. 

7. Online Education Institutions. While many non-profit institutions are creating online programs that are more academically rigorous and will better 

prepare Native students for employment in their communities, for-profit institutions continue to prey on Native communities with their assumptions 

that Native students have access to unlimited funding. Anecdotally, we hear 

story after story from Native graduates that they have student loans far exceeding that of their peers who attended traditional institutions. We would 

like to call on Federal Student Aid to provide data on Native students in 

these institutions in comparison to Native students in all institutions. Additionally, we call on Federal Student Aid to provide this information for all 

levels of higher education. 

8. National programs like AILC and AIGC can be partners in the creation of 

college and graduate school preparation programs that work. We would like 

to offer our expertise, national outreach and networks, and collective alumni 

experiences to work with the Departments of Educations, Interior, and 

Health and Human Services in creating frameworks for model programs at 

all levels. The proven program strategies of Know Before You Go, PreLaw 

Summer Institute and longer summer bridge programming will impact the 

persistence rates for Native students nationally. 

This testimony is intended for higher education; however, we would be remiss in 

our duties if we didn’t remind the SCIA that native learners in Indian country are 

failing, in part, due to a federal system that is failing them. Construction needs in 

BIE and tribal grant schools are embarrassingly high and are systemically necessary. More must be done to reduce the administrative costs of managing construction grants to increase the direct funding to these schools. We can cite research 

about the impact of asbestos, black mold, failing heating and cooling systems, exposed wiring, broken pipes and dismal aesthetics on classroom learning, but it’s 

time to move beyond Native communities proving the need to the BIE being given 

the tools (funding) necessary to address those needs. Then, we must address the 

need for highly qualified teachers’ housing and pay in these remote communities. 

Native students deserve educational professionals who are dedicated to their community rather than Teach for America-like programs providing ‘‘saviors’’ to Indian 

country. 

Congress and federal agencies should fund Native education programs that 

strengthen tribal self-determination, such as tribal education agencies, and ensure 

resources are appropriated to the BIE to address student concerns and needed systemic changes. To start, the Department of the Interior should transfer budget authority from the BIA to the BIE to increase its efficiency and effectiveness by decreasing the bureaucracy inhibiting funds from positively impacting Native students 

and tribal self-determination. 

As a result of BIA authority over the BIE budget, the BIE is often low in priority 

when compared to other programs. Recently, internal BIA FY 2014 Operating Plan 

reduced BIE higher education scholarships. While the reduced lines were under tribal priority allocations, such reductions were not authorized by tribal leaders but 

were a result of internal redistributions in the agency. Although the reductions are 

small as compared to the overall increase in the BIA budgets after Congress postponed sequestration, rescissions without appropriate consultation are unacceptable. 

Providing the BIE the ability to develop its own budget would ensure the BIA cannot reallocate funds from the BIE as it would be a separate Bureau with its own 

budget authority. 

Tribal Colleges serve 9 percent of Native learners in higher education. While that 

number may be low by comparison to their mainstream counterparts, the TCU students become the work-force for their communities in larger percentages than the 

latter group. The BIA, Department of Interior and all other agencies must work together to examine barriers to economic development on reservations. While the rest 

of America is working on economic recovery, Indian country is still working on development. Billions of dollars are spent to aid developing countries while tribal 

funds continue to be cut. We must remove barriers, create opportunities, and provide technical assistance to tribes and individuals wanting to do business in their 

own communities. 

44 

Conclusion 

AIGC appreciates the continued support of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and we look forward to working with its members under your leadership. We 

share your commitment to Native Higher Education to ensure all AIAN serving 

post-secondary institutions are effective at helping our students to persist to the 

fullest desired education level. To attain parity, there must be a collaboration 

among all entities at all levels—tribal, federal, state, local with community based 

organizations’ input and inclusion of post-secondary institution leadership. Once 

again, thank you for this opportunity. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you for your testimony and thank you for 

ripping through it. I very much appreciate it. 

We have a choice here, and the Senate gets pretty wild when 

people start voting. We have two votes. And I don’t what your 

schedules are. We can submit our questions for the record, and I 

think Senator Heitkamp is going to do that anyway. Or I could 

come back at about a quarter to 5 o’clock if the two votes, if we 

get through this first vote and I can vote again and be back here 

by about a quarter to 5 o’clock. 

I have a conflict at 5:10. So if you guys want to stick around, I 

will come back and fire questions at you for about 15 or 20 minutes. If you’d rather just have us submit them in writing and you 

can go wherever you want to go to have a good meal tonight, we 

can do that. So the question is, a good chairman would just dictate 

it. Some of you have traveled a long way. If you want to have questions verbally in the record answered, we can do that. If not, it 

would probably be easier to submit them in writing for the record. 

Dr. Purce? 

Dr. PURCE. I would be glad to have them submitted in writing. 

I have to catch a bird back to Seattle to meet with my bosses tomorrow morning in Evergreen. 

The CHAIRMAN. You know what, we don’t want you to get fired. 

Is that okay with the rest of you, if we just submit them in writing? 

Senator HEITKAMP. Mr. Chairman, can I just ask Mr. Monette to 

extend my greetings to Sam. He is a great Indian leader and he 

has been in Indian education, he is a dear friend. So I want you 

to know that, tell him he is still in the hunt and still in the fight 

and so am I. Maybe someday, we will get it done. 

The CHAIRMAN. That is what we will do, we will put questions 

in writing. I just want to say one thing before you go. Thank you 

for the work that each and every one of you do. It is critically important. I think the Department can learn a lot from your on the 

ground experiences. So if we can help be a conduit in that, we certainly will. 

As I look at the testimony, whether it is affordability or whether 

it is actually getting the job done, you guys are top flight in my 

book. So I just want to thank you all for what you do and how you 

do it and the success you have had, because you are going to have 

much more success in the future. Hopefully we can replicate that 

success in other places around the Country. 

Thank you very, very much. 

With that, I want to thank the witnesses again today, and the 

record will remain open for two weeks from today. With that, this 

hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:13 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

(45) 

1 National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, United States Department of Education.National Indian Education Study. 2011 (NCES 2012–466). http:// 

nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/ 

A P P E N D I X 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (NIEA) 

Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the Committee, tribal 

leaders and Native advocates have consistently listed education as a top priority for 

our communities. As such, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) is excited that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has heard the collective call and 

is working to highlight the condition of Native education across all grade levels in 

order to find solutions to persisting problems. As NIEA and Native education stakeholders have stated for years, equal educational opportunities from early to higher 

education is critical to the future of tribal nations and Native communities. The renewed commitment of this Committee and its focus on improving all education systems serving Native students is critical. As part of our continuing partnership to 

ensure equitable educational opportunities for Native students, we are glad to provide this testimony regarding ‘‘Indian Education: Examining Higher Education for 

American Indian Students’’ for the congressional record. 

NIEA, founded in 1969, is the most inclusive Native organization in the country 

representing Native students, educators, families, communities, and tribes. NIEA’s 

mission is to advance comprehensive educational opportunities for all American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians throughout the United States. From 

communities in Hawaii, to tribal reservations across the continental U.S., to villages 

in Alaska and urban communities in major cities, NIEA has the most reach of any 

Native education organization in the country. By serving as the critical link between 

our communities and education institutions—such as public and private universities, community colleges, and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs)—NIEA hopes 

the Committee will take our testimony into consideration as you address concerns 

in higher education. 

Native Education Crisis Due to Federal Mismanagement 

As all of us realize, Native education is in a state of emergency partly due to the 

inability of the Federal Government to uphold its trust responsibility. Native students lag behind their peers on every educational indicator, from academic achievement to high school and college graduation rates. In 2010, only 1 in 4 Native high 

school graduates who took the ACT scored at the college-ready level in math, and 

only one-third in reading. In the same year, more than half of the majority students 

in high school tested at college-ready levels, illustrating the persistent readiness gap 

among Native and non-Native students. As Native students leave high school ill prepared for higher education, remediation or academic failure often become commonplace for our students. In the last decade, only 52 percent of Native students enrolled in higher education immediately after high school and fewer than 40 percent 

of those students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in six years. Nearly 62 percent 

of White students graduated within six years. In addition to the shockingly low 

number of Native college graduates that this percentage represents, the disparity 

among Natives and non-Native students illustrates the continued lack of college preparedness experienced by Native populations. 

Native Student Demographics Snapshot 1

• In 2012, 17 percent of Native students age 25 and over held at least a bachelor’s 

degree in comparison to 33 percent of White students. 

• In 2012, 6 percent of Native students held an advanced graduate degree (i.e., 

M.A., M.S., Ph.D., M.D., or J.D), as compared to 12 percent of the White population. 

46 

• The 2010 Census found that only 65,356 Natives ages 25 years and older had 

a graduate or professional degree. 

The Trust Responsibility to Native Education 

Since its inception, NIEA’s work has centered on reversing these negative trends, 

a feat that is possible only if the Federal Government upholds its trust responsibility. Established through treaties, federal law, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, 

this relationship includes a fiduciary obligation to provide parity in access and equal 

resources to all American Indian and Alaska Native students, regardless of where 

they attend school. With equal educational opportunity, our future generations will 

be prepared for academic achievement and consequently, success in college and careers. 

The Federal Government’s trust corpus in the field of Indian education is a shared 

trust between the Administration and Congress for federally-recognized Indian 

tribes. To the extent that measurable trust standards in Indian education can be 

evaluated, NIEA suggests this Committee refer to the government’s own studies encompassing Native test scores, treaty-based appropriation decreases, and Government Accountability Office (GAO) Reports, among other reports, which illustrate the 

continued inability of the federal government via the BIE to uphold the trust responsibility. 

NIEA 2014 Postsecondary Education Recommendations 

I. Create Equity in Higher Education to Fulfill Trust Obligations 

NIEA requests this Committee work with Native-serving postsecondary institutions to increase the educational attainment rate for Native students. This Committee should ensure equity in access to higher education resources and institutions 

in policy and legislation like the Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization. This 

Committee should also work with the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee as they develop policy priorities to encourage and strengthen tribal-state partnerships in Native education. 

For example, expanding adequate resources for Indian Education Professional Development Grants is necessary to meet training needs and increase retention rates 

among Native teachers, administrators, and education leaders in reservation 

schools, as well as the surrounding schools with high Native populations. There 

should be more opportunities for higher education partnerships with Regional Education Laboratories (RELs) in order to facilitate and collect data regarding Native 

students. Collaborative opportunities should also include community colleges and 

universities that serve high numbers of Native students. Such partnerships should 

assess factors, such as total cost of attendance, debt burden on graduation, job or 

graduate school placement rate, etc, as they often critically affect a student’s ability 

to thrive in college and beyond. 

Competitive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) undergraduate programs for Native students should be developed to meet 21st Century 


611a1.eps
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workforce needs. Native students require increased resources across all Native-serving institutions (public, private, TCU), so funds are available in areas such as capital financing, master’s degree development, and STEM programs. Increasing competitive grant competitions for Minority Science and Engineering programs to include all institutions, not only selected groups, would facilitate increased access to 

resources. 

II. Increase Retention Rates Among Native Students 

The Federal Government should provide colleges and universities adequate resources to increase retention rates among Native students. As successful federal investments, TRiO programs, such as Upward Bound and Student Support Services, 

illustrate the ability to positively impact retention when support is appropriated. 

These programs provide critical academic support in higher education to assist colleges and universities in retaining vulnerable students and increase graduation and 

preparedness for a student’s post-graduate career. 

Unfortunately, the Federal Government reduced critical TRiO programmatic funding for Upward Bound and Talent Search during sequestration, which equated to 

a $17,500 cut from each program per year in just a single institution. This is reflective of more expansive reductions nationwide. While Congress postponed sequestration, we request that future reductions as mandated under the Budget Control Act 

be replaced permanently to avoid funding cuts to our most vulnerable students. Programmatic ineffectiveness in serving at-risk students is only exacerbated when already strained programs are required to serve more students with equal or reduced 

budgets. 

Further, need-based financial aid programs should be expanded to provide yearround assistance, so that available resources cover summer course sessions. Since 

Native students are more likely to require remedial course work and are the least 

likely to graduate from college—with only 15 percent of those entering college earning a bachelor’s degree within six years—summer course options are particularly 

important for Native students. Moreover, the inability to graduate on time often increases the student’s financial burden. Through funding for expanding summer 

course options, Native students will have more opportunity to finish college in four 

years and graduate with less student loan debt. 

III. Support and Strengthen Native Language and Culture 

Similar to elementary and secondary education systems, it is critical that higher 

education institutions have the ability to partner and collaborate with local tribes 

and Native education stakeholders. This would support cultural and linguistic initiatives before Native students enter and as they attend college. Tribes understand 

the needs of their children best and can help higher education institutions ensure 

a collegiate education is not only respectful to their Native students but also engages students to become future leaders in Native communities. 

Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, provides a laudable example of such a 

partnership. The college, on average, has 900 Native students from over 140 federally recognized tribes each semester. Through the school’s collaboration with tribal 

communities, it works to strengthen the Native culture of its students from matriculation through graduation to their entrance into the job market. At Fort Lewis College, programs and classes offer Native students the ability to strengthen their collective Native culture through the Native American Center, the Native American 

Honor Society, and the American Indian Business Leaders Organization, as well as 

the Elder-In-Residence program. This emphasis on academic and cultural support 

has made Fort Lewis College one of the top public institutions in the country where 

Native students excel and graduate. 

Yet, many institutions across the country do not have the resources to provide a 

support system like that of Fort Lewis College. Postsecondary institutions should 

have the resources and political support to graduate more students who understand 

Native cultural and linguistic traditions. Native language revitalization and preservation is a critical priority for tribes and Native communities because language 

preservation goes to the heart of our identity. This Committee should work to provide resources for college students to become educators and leaders who understand 

their local Native identity. We also request that this Committee work to create a 

means for providing debt repayment options, adequate housing, and other incentives 

to degree-holding Native educators and students who wish to return to their communities. Because jobs are often inadequate in a Native student’s community due 

to geographical isolation and small, rural markets, we request the Committee increase incentives for Native teachers to return to Indian Country and reinvest their 

talents and cultural understanding among their fellow tribal citizens. 

48 

IV. Professional Development for Student Success 

We request this Committee increase and expand available professional development opportunities for Native educators. NIEA submitted draft language last year 

to expand the Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Indian Education (OIE) Indian Professional Development program. This expansion would support Native students pursuing doctoral degrees. While current law provides training to assist qualified Native individuals to become traditional K–12 teachers and administrators, 

educators and administrators in higher education institutions, teacher aides, social 

workers, and ancillary educational support, this request, as consistent with NIEA 

Resolution 2012–4, would grant funds to support and train Native individuals to obtain postsecondary masters and doctoral degrees. 

To help students achieve, Native communities need certified educators who have 

the local, cultural understanding and knowledge to support our young generations. 

Native-serving higher education institutions, such as tribal colleges and universities 

and non-tribal Native-serving institutions are committed to building a Native-speaking teacher workforce and stress culturally and developmentally-appropriate pedagogy that embeds community values and tribal culture. The commitments and strategies are working, but as described above, there must also be increased access to 

resources and education programs in order to help Native students become educators. In many locations, there is the will, but there are not enough certified Native 

language or culture teachers. We need this Committee to work with Congress and 

the Administration to stand behind TCUs and other Native-serving postsecondary 

institutions by increasing their ability to support Native teacher preparation and 

Native student retention and graduation. 

Conclusion 

NIEA appreciates the continued support of this Committee, and we look forward 

to working closely with its members to support our students. Strengthening our 

partnership will ensure all Native-serving schools, from pre-schools to TCUs, are as 

effective as possible. To achieve success, there must be collaboration among all entities and at all levels—tribal, federal, state, and local—that touch a Native child’s 

life. We particularly appreciate this 2014 education series because confronting the 

challenges facing our Native students cannot be approached through one facet of the 

education system at a time. Only by working with all stakeholders in all education 

systems will we increase our students’ preparedness for success. Once again, thank 

you for this opportunity. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MAGGIE L. GEORGE, PH.D., PRESIDENT OF DINE ́ COLLEGE

Introduction 

Good afternoon Chairman Tester, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the 

Committee. Thank you for including American Indian Higher Education as part of 

your Indian Education Series. Originally named Navajo Community College, Dine ́

College is a public institution of higher education first chartered by the Navajo Nation in 1968. The educational philosophy of Dine ́ College is Sa’ah Naaghai Bik’eh 

Hoozhoon (SNBH), the Dine ́ traditional paradigm for understanding all living systems. SNHB is applied in all academic and student support programs to advance 

quality student learning while maintaining a meaningful connection to traditional 

Navajo values and sensibilities. SNBH has played an important role in the development and success of Dine ́ College. 

From inception, Dine ́ College continues to be at the forefront of American Indian 

Higher Education. Over the last three years, Dine ́ College has focused its efforts on 

Student Success and Capacity Building. Under Student Success, the College is addressing issues of access, academic achievement, and retention. Under Capacity 

Building, we are actively working to develop new degree programs, improve learning 

environments, and renovate facilities. Each of these play an important role in providing Navajo and Indian students’ access to and success in higher education. With 

the Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization slated for this year, the College respectfully submits it views and recommendations. 

Remedial Education 

Remedial Education is a term describing a sequence of courses designed to bring 

underprepared students to the level of skills expected of new college freshmen. 

While colleges vary in their practices; the common approach is to prepare a student 

for college-level study through coursework to develop effective academic writing, 

reading and math skills as required in many university classes. These are skills 

generally taught in high school. Thus, remedial education offers a second chance for 

49 

students to acquire specified knowledge and skills for academic success. Remedial 

Education is a national issue; however, it is especially problematic in Indian Country. 

According to Dine ́ College data, 85 percent (a five year average) of entering Navajo college students are enrolled in remedial education coursework for reading, writing, and math. Although there is no concrete tracking data on a particular incoming 

class, it is likely the graduation rates of a particular class is similar to national research findings in that students requiring remedial education are less likely to graduate, guaranteeing that the placement of students in remedial coursework acts as 

a gatekeeper to their completion of a degree. Further, the Navajo Nation funded students in remedial courses have cost from $903,250 in 2011 to $2,068,500 in 2009 

for 18,571 remedial courses in Math and English. 

Recently, Secretary Arne Duncan, in his address to the State Higher Education 

Executive Officers’ Higher Education Policy Conference, noted that ‘‘(S)tates are taking on the challenges of boosting college and career readiness by reforming and reducing the need for remedial instruction.’’ Likewise, at an on April 5, 2012, Dine ́

College hosted the Navajo Nation Roundtable on Remedial Education, for the purpose of assessing the impact on Navajo students of remedial education in Higher 

Education and to explore new solutions and policies. Those attending represented 

a broad cross-section of educational institutions within and outside the Navajo Nation including major state universities and public schools districts in New Mexico 

and Arizona, Bureau of Indian Education, Navajo Department of Education, Navajo 

Nation Board of Education, and both public and tribal school boards. 

A number of recommendations came out of the roundtable. Dine ́ College has made 

progress in developing and implementing a number of them—a summer remediation 

program, strengthen partnerships with K–12 schools, revising placement testing criteria, and establishment of a dual credit program. Each of these are important 

steps, but more can be done to address Remedial Education in Indian Country. 

Recommendation 

One important recommendation stemming from the Navajo Nation Remedial Education Roundtable is the need for reliable data and research. While Tribal College 

and Universities (TCUs) are addressing Remedial Education locally, very little research and reliable data exists with respect to Remedial Education and American 

Indian Students on a national level. Through the HEA reauthorization, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Post-Secondary Education, in collaboration with 

TCUs, should be charged with developing a research question and funding a study 

to identify issues and best practices to address Remedial Education in Indian Country. 

Dual Credit Program 

As a way to increase access to higher education, and in part, address remedial 

education issues, Dine ́ College established its Dual Credit Program in 2013. 

Through the program, high school students can get a jump start on college by earning college credits while still attending high school. Dual credit is a process by 

which a high school junior or senior enrolls in a Dine ́ College course and receives 

concurrent academic credit for the course from both the college and the high school. 

The dual credit courses are taught on a Dine ́ College campus or on the high school 

campus only. Dine ́ College offers dual credit opportunities for all the courses listed 

in our catalog. To date, the dual credit program has had 38 students complete 190 

college credit hours. 

To ensure student success, as part of the College dual credit program, we provide 

on-going academic support and monitoring through our Dual Credit Coordinator, an 

assigned counselor, and on-site tutoring. Upon high school graduation, students can 

continue taking classes at Dine ́ College and work toward a certificate or degree. 

Dual credit coursework is counted toward a Dine ́ College degree and can be transferred to different colleges or universities. Over the last year, the College has entered into 17 Dual Credit Agreements with local high schools and school districts. 

On the New Mexico state level, the New Mexico TCUs successfully secured 

$100,000 in funding from the State of New Mexico to support dual credit programs 

at New Mexico TCUs. This $100,000 does not cover all the costs of tuition and fees 

associated with the New Mexico TCU dual credit enrollment. For the 2014–2015 

academic year, the New Mexico TCUs secured $200,000 for their dual credit programs. The TCUs anticipates that this funding will again fall short to cover the cost 

of dual credit enrollment. 

At the Arizona state level, Dine ́ College is seeking legislation to provide support 

for to expand its dual credit program. It is important to note here that 72 percent 

of Navajo high school students on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona attend state 

50 

public schools. At the Navajo Nation level, the College is leveraging existing scholarship funds to also support tuition and fees for dual credit students. Dine ́ College 

is keenly aware that diverting this funding places the Navajo Nation Office of Scholarship and Financial Assistance (ONNSFA) in a difficult position. In 2013, ONNSFA 

received 14,605 scholarship applications but it was only able to fund 5,527 students. 

Recommendation 

Through the HEA reauthorization, create and authorize funding for Dual Credit 

Programs at TCUs to be administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or Bureau 

of Indian Education. 

Construction and Facilities 

Through the Navajo Community College Assistance Act of 1978 (P.L. Pub. L. 95– 

471; hereinafter ‘‘1978 NCC Act’’), Congress provided for a facilities study to be completed by the Department of the Interior by August 1978. The 1978 Facility Study 

was never completed and funding for Dine ́ College construction and facilities was 

never appropriated. In the 2008, Congress enacted the Navajo Nation Higher Education Act and directed the Department of the Interior complete a Facilities Study 

by October 31, 2010. The study was not completed. Additionally, when Congress enacted the 1978 NCC Act, it provided for a $2,000,000 annual construction grant be 

made to the College. 

Over the last three years, the College has been working to ensure the Bureau of 

Indian Affairs (BIA) completes the 1978 Congressionally-mandated facility study. 

The College previously submitted the prerequisite inventory in 1979, 1988 and 1996, 

yet the BIA took no action. Last fall, the College again submitted a new inventory. 

In April 2014, the College met with the BIA Navajo Region Office and we were able 

to come to a consensus on the need to complete the study and to develop an action 

plan with a timeline. Additionally, I have personally briefed Interior Secretary Sally 

Jewell and Assistant Secretary Kevin Washburn on the issue. Once the facility 

study is completed and submitted to Congress, the College will begin advocating for 

construction funding authorized by the 1978 Act. We request the Committee’s support in ensuring the completion of the College’s facility study. 

Recommendation 

Amend the Navajo Nation Higher Education Act to renew the deadline to October 

30, 2015 and provide the Department of the Interior direction to complete the Facilities Study through Committee report language. 

Title III—Part A—Strengthening Tribally-Controlled Colleges and 

Universities 

In 2009, Dine ́ College conducted a comprehensive assessment of three areas: the 

skill level of new students, the academic progress of current and former students, 

and the gap and weaknesses in the academic program. The study concluded Dine ́

College students: (1) enter with significant academic deficiencies and non-academic 

needs; (2) experience a significantly high failure rate in the pre-college level reading, 

writing, and math sequences; (3) lack understanding of academic or degree planning; (4) lack test taking and study strategies; and (5) did not understand the concept of transfer or even which course will transfer to four-year institutions. The 

study also provided the College with data that 88 percent of our student are first 

generation college students. Using the research finding and data, the College submitted a Title III grant proposal to address these issues. 

In October 2010, Dine ́ College was awarded its Title III grant. The at Dine ́ College Title III Program focus areas are: (1) Academic Placement and Support; (2) Student Engagement; (3) Educational Goal-Setting and Intervention, and (4) Improved 

Instruction and Curriculum. Under these focus areas, the College has successfully 

reorganized its Student Success Division and has greatly improved student services 

in all these areas. At the end of the Spring 2013 semester, the Title III personnel 

reported to have assisted 1,467 students overall. As a next step, the Student Success 

Division is now developing an institution-wide advising system with goal of implementing it by Spring 2015. 

I would also like to highlight that the Title III grant funded the planning and 

delivery of the college’s Summer Institute Program at the Tsaile Campus. The Summer Institute is a two week residential summer bridge program designed to help 

first time freshman students engage in rich academic and social experiences and to 

gain understanding of transitioning to college and learn about what to expect in college. Another important success is that the Title II program built two new Student 

Success Centers at the College’s Tsaile, AZ and Shiprock, NM campuses. The Student Success Center is a central location for student support services. Title III fundVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK
51 

ing has played an important role in building Dine ́ College’s student services capacity. 

Recommendation 

Through the HEA reauthorization, authorize Title III funds to be used for (1) establishing and operating Dual Credit Programs, including instruction and capacity 

building; (2) developing and offering College Readiness and Transition programs, including personnel and student expenses; (3) developing and operating Admissions 

Office capacity, including personnel and training. 

Forward Funding of BIA Higher Education Program 

Since 1983, the Navajo Nation has administered its own scholarship program 

through a P.L. 93–638 contract. The Office of Navajo Nation Scholarship and Financial Assistance (ONNSFA) awards approximately $12 million in Federally funded 

college scholarships a year. Additionally, the Navajo Nation commits $7.2 million of 

its own revenues and income from tribal trust funds to college scholarships. An additional $1 million is secured in corporate and private donations. The ONNSFA 

funds over 5,000 undergraduate and approximately 500 graduate students annually. 

All too often, Navajo students arrive on college campuses with little or no money. 

This is particularly problematic for Navajo college students who depend on these 

scholarship funds to pay for tuition, books, and room and board. It can take days 

or even weeks for scholarship funds to be distributed to the students. In the meantime, they are required to buy books and other supplies and pay living expenses for 

themselves and, often, their children. Given the economic situation in their home 

communities, most students receive little assistance from their extended families. In 

addition, the rural and undeveloped economy of the Navajo Reservation provides 

few wage-labor opportunities for students. As more and more Navajo and other Native American students seek a college education, forward funding of the BIA Higher 

Education program would allow the Navajo Nation and other Indian tribes to disburse scholarship funds in a timely manner. 

There is precedent for forward funding of Federal Indian education programs. 

Currently, the Bureau of Indian Education funded schools (including P.L. 93–638 

and P.L. 100–297 schools (25 U.S.C. § 2010), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, (25 U.S.C. 1810) are all forward funded. For the Navajo Nation and Indian 

Country, forward funding has proven to be beneficial to all education stakeholders: 

Indian Tribes, Bureau of Indian Education funded schools, public school districts, 

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, and Federal Agencies. Most important, forward funding is in the best interest of Indian students at all levels. 

Recommendation 

Through the HEA reauthorization, included authorization to forward fund the 

BIA Higher Education Program. See existing language in in Senator Tom Udall’s 

bill S. 1131, Building upon Unique Indian Learning and Development Act. 

Support for Our Sister Institutions and Adult Literacy Legislation 

Dine ́ College supports the forward funding of our sister institutions, Southwest 

Indian Polytechnic Institute, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Navajo Technical College and United Tribes Technical College. Authorizing language to accomplish this is found in Senator Tom Udall’s bill S. 1131, Building upon Unique Indian 

Learning and Development Act. We also support passage of the Senator Mazie K. 

Hirono’s S.1998 Native Adult Education and Literacy Act of 2014. The bill provides 

funding for General Education Diploma and Adult Education programs. We strongly 

urge the Committee to work to include these in the HEA reauthorization. 

Conclusion 

Dine ́ College provides a unique opportunity for Navajo and Indian students to succeed in an educational setting that prepares them for further studies, opens up employment possibilities, and incorporates traditional Navajo cultural values and 

learning styles. Since the 1868 treaty between the United States and the Navajo 

People, education has been stressed to our people. Dine ́ College and the tribal college movement is an outgrowth of this. The Navajo Nation and people are very 

proud of the foundations and opportunities that Dine ́ College has provided over the 

last 45 years. I invite each member of the committee to visit our College and see 

firsthand our success and challenges. 

52 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF LISA SHORT BULL GERTH, GRADUATE STUDENT, MONTANA

STATE UNIVERSITY

Good morning. I am sending you this letter to give testimony concerning issues 

I have encountered while trying to obtain my MA degree. I will begin with the history of when I received my bachelor’s degree while attending the University of 

South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. My major was English with an emphasis 

in creative writing. My minor was in Indian Studies. While I was taking courses 

for my minor in Indian Studies, I realized that with the courses I was studying, I 

was essentially wasting my time because I didn’t know what I could do with that. 

I talked to the former director of Native American Studies at the time, Dr. Leonard 

Brugier. I told him about my frustrations and asked if in his position he was able 

to help create a bachelor’s in Native American studies. I said, I would need to finish 

my program in English but this kind of program was necessary because just having 

a minor was useless and you needed to have bachelor’s degree in order to put Indian 

studies classes to use. Eventually Leonard was able to make this happen. 

When I graduated from USD in 1994 I did various jobs. My most important use 

of my English degree and Indian studies minor was writing a proposal to perform 

Native American Cultural training for upper level management of the Army Corp 

of Engineers. The corp was so impressed with the training that I created, they gave 

the company I wrote the proposal for a three year contract and I was the company’s 

program manager for three years. I worked with tribes around the country. 

This job only deepened my passion to learn about Native American tribes. When 

our contract ended in 2009, it was at the peak of the recession. It was difficult finding a job anywhere around South Dakota. I decided to go back to school. I wanted 

a degree related to working with Native Americans. What I discovered was my 

Alma Mater was having a difficult time trying to keep the Indian Studies bachelor’s 

program alive. There was no Director of the program for Indian studies. Dr. Edward 

Valandra was the last Director, and he quit his job apparently. There were no instructors to teach the Indian Studies courses and they were running ads to fill two 

positions for Instructors. I believe the Dean of students was acting Director of the 

Indian Studies Department. There was a large collection of Oral History recorded 

interviews that were once housed in the basement of Dakota Hall but were moved 

to the library of USD and the person hired to care for them was not required to 

be Native American. 

An important note to mention is that when I was pursuing my education at USD 

there were some strong contributing factors to my success. There were several Native Americans who were working at USD. Among them were Steven Whithorn, who 

worked in financial aid, that position was later filled by Del Big Crow, and then 

Patty Wells Evans. All three of these individuals are now deceased. Also Dr. Duane 

Mackey who was in the counseling dept, I believe, Dr. John Williams, Drug and alcohol abuse, and are both deceased. Dr. Robert Bunge was a professor in Modern 

Languages and also deceased. Besides this group of individuals there was Mr. Gene 

Thin Elk who is now the coordinator of the Native American Cultural Center and 

Dr. Wayne Evans who was a professor in Bilingual education, who is now retired. 

So I feel this is the reason that there are so many needs to save the Indian Studies 

dept. I called several people involved in saving this program and know the story 

well. I don’t understand when so many people were dying that people at USD didn’t 

have the foresight to remedy what was happening and maybe that had to do with 

funding. At the time, the two positions for Instructors have been filled to begin the 

fall 2014 term. At this time, there is no master’s in Native American Studies offered 

at USD. 

In my efforts to find a University in South Dakota, I called SDSU in Brookings, 

S.D. There was a story in the newspaper saying that they were going to start their 

first ever Native American Studies program there. It was going to be started under 

the new hire of Director of Ritchie Meyer. I talked to him on the phone. He said 

at that time, he was working with Sinte Gleska University on a program to save 

the Lakota Language. I asked if he would continue that throughout the school year 

and he said yes. I asked what he had planned for the new Indian Studies program 

and he said, ‘‘I’m not exactly sure, they literally just told me to get it started.’’ My 

thoughts were, how can someone be involved in a large language program and try 

to start something as major as a whole new Indian Studies program that needed 

a focus and direction and not have any plans for it. I talked to him at the end of 

the semester and he said the school year went very well. He also said that he just 

got a grant and was studying Indian Studies programs to see what was successful. 

He forgot I made that suggestion to him before I left South Dakota in 2013 to begin 

my Master’s in Native American studies. As long as it’s being done, I suppose, and 

53 

someone cares. I told him that I would put him in touch with Dr. Walter Fleming 

the Chair of the Native American Studies Department. 

I also asked him if there would be any chance of a job when I graduate from MSU 

and he said probably not at this time. He said they had a very low budget and needed to use grad students to teach the courses. My theory is a newly graduated MA 

who taught for one whole year would have better qualifications to teach Indian 

studies course, but again, this is probably due to budget constraints. Mr. Meyers 

was saying that he was aware that they hired two new people to teach the Indian 

Studies courses at USD. He said, currently Gene Thin Elk was the only person 

teaching cultural studies at USD. I said, ‘‘Well that is all well in good that USD 

is doing something, but for your information, the graduate program here at USD 

doesn’t even have a cultural component.’’ So all the stuff the students are getting 

there will not be of use if those students decide to pursue the MA. Some of it may 

help as far as understanding Native Americans but MSU focuses on Fedral Law and 

Indian Policy, theories and methods of Native studies, history, and literature. What 

Mr. Thin Elk teaches might help a student write a paper or two but would not give 

them a solid foundation to build on like a strong well designed BA curriculum 

would. 

Black Hills State has a bachelor’s in Indian Studies but I have not contacted 

them. At the time I was trying to make my choice for a University I was living in 

Aberdeen and wanted to stay East River. It didn’t take me long before I realized 

that if I wanted a quality education in Native American Studies, I would have to 

move. So I started to explore my options via the Internet. I had been previously in 

touch with MSU in 2009 and the peaked my interest at that time. I gave them a 

call. It took some time to get my ducks in a row, but I did and am currently a student here. One of the most fascinating things I encountered to help with my success 

not only as a student but in life, was being given an opportunity to teach. I taught 

the Intro to Native American Indian Studies course to 50 students. It was remarkable to see that many students having to take my class as a requirement for their 

program. This was due to the tremendously successful program called ‘‘Indian Education for All.’’ This program is so amazing. Coming from South Dakota our history 

of race related issues are no secret. During the recession, to keep myself going, I 

hired myself out to do Native American Cultural sensitivity training. I trained the 

Rapid City and the Aberdeen, Police Departments, the Black Hills National Forest, 

SD Game, Fish and Parks and Aberdeen Central H.S. 

I do this because I firmly believe that education is the way to combat ignorance 

that leads to racism. As an educator I saw for myself where students came into the 

start of the semester talking about their parents being racist and they themselves 

knowing nothing about Native Americans. At the end of the semester, these students were talking about compassion for people they never knew and how honored 

it was to see us as the people we are with a beautiful culture. Many said that they 

would teach what they learned from me to their children. I don’t do the work I do 

to become rich or famous. I do it because I think back to some of my own experiences growing up in SD. I think of thinks like it takes a village to raise a child. 

I spent only about 5 years of my life on the Rosebud Reservation. I started my education in the Rapid City School System. When I moved to Rosebud and started 6th 

grade I was so far above my peers, I found education to be somewhat boring. My 

teachers knew what the problem was for me and would always give me extra things 

to do to keep me busy. 

Then after my father died, my mother relocated to Aberdeen, S.D. I believe in the 

saying it takes a village to raise a child which is another reason why I am writing 

this letter. I am thinking of all the young Jr. and Sr. High school students in South 

Dakota and anywhere in the United States who may not know how to pursue the 

goals I made for myself. Or back in South Dakota may not have the chance to get 

a quality education because of the budget cuts. I talked to Secretary J.R. LaPlante 

who works for the Govenor’s office. I was telling him that South Dakota needs to 

adopt a model like the Indian Education for All. He talked about the fact that it 

would get hard to people to listen to me in South Dakota because the Indian Education for all made the state Spend money not make money. I’m not a math major 

but I do know if there are 4 sections being taught of Intro to Native American Studies, each section has 50 students, each student pays $1,000 for this class that makes 

$800,000.00/per year for the University. Every University, and is funded by the 

board of Regents, who collects money for the state. Don’t they? How is this a costly 

program? La Plante also mentioned that it was a Republican/Democrat issue. How 

about making this an issue that does not focus on the needs of constituents but focuses instead on the needs of young adults who need to earn a living. How about 

building self-esteem in people who come from South Dakota towns that have been 

compared to third world countries such as Rosebud and Pine Ridge and all of their 

54 

districts, or Cheyenne River, or Sisseton? I myself am tired of being at the bottom 

and what to get a better world-view from the top. That’s why I am pursuing an MA 

in NAS. When I was working in jobs where I could see for myself the social ills affecting Native people is what easier to understand what their needs are. 

As a former English major I was a reporter for newspapers. I also was a case 

manager in Hardin Montana. I was affiliated with the HRDC office there. We 

helped people, mostly Native Americans from the Crow Agency, learned how to fill 

out job applications and do mock interviews so they could get jobs. Many of the 

young people had started their families before they even left high school and many 

of these people were close to illiterate. So, while I was the reporter I would read 

story after story of the government concerned about the high drop- out rates of Native Americans, the high number of pregnancy among Native American women, the 

low birth rate, etc. We all know the problems. What better way to address the problems by creating successful education programs for them. The government has a 

concern for these people up until the age of 18. Some of the people don’t have anybody concerned about their success in high school at home. So when they turn 18, 

they have no one. Maybe that is part of the reason for the high suicide rates. These 

young Native people see what happens to their older siblings. If you have successful 

programs that guide you all the way through more young people might consider. 

Here is an example of what I think could be a successful program: 

If one of the reasons South Dakota might be reluctant to adopt a model like Indian Education for all is shortage of funds, there is no reason why the government 

can’t fund the BIE and have the BIE be a sponsor of the program. I have talked 

to Walter Fleming to see if he may want to do some collaborative work with Universities and tribal colleges in South Dakota and I believe he has. Traditionally it takes 

about 6 years to complete a BA and an MA degree. It would be a nice incentive 

if there was collaborative work where it only took 5 years. You could (A) Start College in SD earning credits for a BA for two years, you could gain valuable credits 

taking classes at a Tribal college for two years then (B) transfer to MSU and complete A Master’s in one year. This is just one example of how this might work. 

Possible (C) Option: Dr. Walter Fleming also has been working to start a PHD 

program here at MSU. If BIE gets involved in helping create this program, there 

would more students interested in participating, and those numbers would be used 

to justify starting one. We want to give students something to strive for. At this 

time, I believe there are only two Universities in this whole country that offer American Indian Studies programs. 

Or if this program still needed to be the traditional 6 yrs, at least you have guidance and support from day one of a Bachelor’s possible all the way to a doctorate. 

Many places have fellowships such as the US Fish and Wildlife who guarantee you 

jobs with them if you are a fit for them during the fellowship. With a largely supported program that is turning out high numbers of grad students every year more 

federal agencies will create fellowships. 

So, not only building self-esteem, and giving students achieve-able goals to obtain, 

here is another reason to support this program. What do we go to college for? To 

be able to get jobs. What is needed to help an economy in a recession? The creating 

jobs. At the time all federal agencies are using Tribal Liaisons. You need to have 

college experience, usually at the Master’s level to do these jobs. Have you been following this letter? Those programs are struggling. With the exception of MSU who 

does have a high success rate of graduates. But there are many opportunities in 

which we as NAS majors can thrive once we graduate. 

How about creating a call center, where Native Americans can take calls from Native Americans who want to complain about their experience with an Indian Health 

Hospital as a way for the government to maintain quality control. Or how about 

Tribes owning and operating a facility that fills the orders of lung drainage units 

and other medical supplies so tribes benefit instead of spending their money outside 

of the tribe. This helps economic development for the tribes. Maybe it will save the 

government money in the long run. It will certainly help monitor the use of money 

earmarked for health care. This money goes to tribes instead of the government 

having to reimburse other people who contract with IHS hospitals. 

I am also writing this story because in order to pursue my educational goals, I 

had to leave my state and my home. I put everything in storage because South Dakota doesn’t have a program like the one I needed. But why not? We have 7 reservations in South Dakota, why don’t we have heavily supported Native American studies programs. Look at all the people, not Native American who are archeologists or 

Anthropologists who have jobs. And they have a bad reputation with some folks. 

Well, give us the money, let us research ourselves and tell our own stories by giving 

us the funds to make our own programs. 

55 

In conclusion, there are so many benefits for the government and BIE to become 

better at improving the quality of education that Native Americans receive. South 

Dakota is so long overdue in making a major change, and one of support, for Native 

American Tribal colleges, and for Indian Studies programs in South Dakota Universities. In my opinion, separation of Church and State is somewhat understandable, 

Separation of Native Americans and State is unforgiveable. Adopting a model like 

Indian Education for all would demonstrate the desire to make good the reconciliation efforts of former Gov. George Mickleson If it will take extra funding from the 

government to make this happen, it is my desperate plea that you open the doors 

of opportunities for future Native American students and get behind the State of 

South Dakota and all its universities, Tribal Colleges, and Montana State University in their efforts. 

RESPONSE TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY HON. TOM UDALL TO

CHERYL CRAZY BULL

Question 1. Your remarks are compelling about how to make higher education 

more affordable for Native American and Alaska Native college students. I understand that only three TCUs participate in the federal student loan program: Fond 

du Lac Tribal and Community College (Minnesota), Salish Kootenai College (Montana), and United Tribes Technical College (North Dakota). Why do so few TCUs 

participate in the federal student loan program? 

Answer. The nation’s tribal colleges and universities, which collectively are the 

American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), stated in a press release 

issued July 17, 2014 that more than 75 percent of students enrolled at TCUs are 

Pell Grant recipients. The very real threat of losing Pell Grant eligibility, which the 

majority of their students depend upon, is the major reason that most TCUs do not 

participate in the federal student loan program. And it’s not just TCUs. According 

to the Institute of College Access & Success, 20.1 percent of Native American community college students are enrolled in non-participating institutions. 

However, speaking with regard to Tribal College non-participation, many TCUs 

choose not to participate because they are concerned that when too many student 

borrowers default on their federal student loans, the schools can be sanctioned and 

could face the possibility of losing the ability to offer Pell Grants to their students. 

This potential loss of Pell Grant eligibility for current and future students (based 

on the lack of loan repayment by a small fraction of former students) impacts the 

Tribal Colleges’ decisions on participation in the federal loan program. This is an 

even greater concern for smaller institutions, which could have only a handful of 

loan recipients but where the majority are Pell Grant recipients. Tribal Colleges feel 

that it is imperative that they work to preserve a major source of the majority of 

their students’ financial aid. 

In addition, federal student loan programs are even less attractive in 2014 as concerns about cohort default rates (CDRs) have been heightened amongst higher education institutions because this is the first year that sanctions will be imposed in 

colleges based on three-year rather than two-year time periods. 

Tribal Colleges do not want to risk losing Pell Grant eligibility for their students 

because the Tribal Colleges themselves rely upon Pell dollars to cover their costs, 

since they are underfunded. Therefore, until federal policy is changed to decouple 

the student loan program and Pell Grant eligibility, most Tribal Colleges will opt 

not to participate in loan programs because the risk of losing Pell Grant eligibility 

for thousands of American Indian students who rely upon Pell Grants is just too 

great. 

A partial solution would be to offer year-round Pell Grants to promote Native student access to education. Year-round Pell Grants would promote access to higher 

education for the most underserved group of students in the nation. Native Americans have the lowest college enrollment and degree-attainment rates in the country, 

as noted in June 2014 testimony, which can be attributed to high rates of poverty. 

Year-round Pell Grants would also provide a boost in students’ persistence to complete their degrees because funding would be uninterrupted. Offering year-round 

Pell Grants would also support the goal of helping strengthen graduation rates. Students who have to stop out for financial reasons often find jobs and then decide not 

to return to college. Finding a job may solve a student’s short-term financial problems, but without a degree, they are limited with regard to future earning potential. 

In addition, individuals lacking degrees impact both their community’s and America’s competitiveness and economic health. 

Extending the Pell Grant program year-round would help both full-time and parttime students who are not on a traditional schedule. Because many Native students 

56 

work and attend school part-time, a year-round Pell Grant program would help increase their access to a higher education. 

The American Indian College Fund acknowledges that Pell Grants alone are not 

enough to meet their students’ financial needs. Pell Grants only cover a portion of 

the cost of attending a Tribal College (the average cost of attendance for academic 

year 2013–2014, including books and board, was $14,168, contrasted with the average income of a first-time entering TCU student of $15,262, according to AIHEC). 

To prevent Tribal College students from borrowing from private, more expensive 

loan sources to fill the gap, the schools instead choose to make higher education affordable and accessible by charging very low tuition rates, writing off an average 

of $100,000 in tuition costs annually, and providing comprehensive support systems. 

In essence Tribal Colleges, which are open enrollment, public institutions that 

provide access to high quality postsecondary education opportunities to both Native 

American and non-Native reservation residents, choose to do more with less so that 

their students can financially access a higher education. They spend less and 

achieve more so their students do not have to face the financial burden of repaying 

student loans after school. 

It’s not just Tribal College students that face the dilemma attendant with federal 

student loans and Pell Grants. According to a report titled ‘‘At What Cost? How 

Community Colleges That Do Not Offer Federal Student Loans Put Students at 

Risk’’ authored by the Institute for College Access and Success, nearly one million 

community college students in 30 states—or 8.5. percent of community college students nationally—are enrolled in schools that blocked all of their students’ access 

to federal student loans. And access to federal student loans varies considerably by 

race and ethnicity. Native American, African America, and Latino students attending community colleges are the most likely to lack access. 

Finally, there is a definite bias with regard to access to federal loans in rural 

areas. According to the report, community college students in non-urban areas 

(where Tribal Colleges are located) are more than twice as likely to lack access to 

federal loans as their peers who attended community colleges in urban areas. Students attending a community college in a non-rural area comprise one-fourth of all 

community college students, according to the report. Again, the link may be an economic issue: schools who serve large populations of students who are Pell Grant recipients may be reluctant to risk losing the primary financial source that provides 

their students with financial access, while also risking the dollars the institutions 

rely upon for operation. 

Question 1a. What would you recommend for Native students at TCUs to have 

greater access to federal student loan and scholarship programs? 

Answer. Rather than implementing federal student loan programs at Tribal Colleges that current federal regulations could cause schools to risk losing access to the 

Pell Grant program which serve such a large number of Native students, the American Indian College Fund joins AIHEC to recommend that Congress adopt a plan 

for equity in federal funding for the TCUs. 

Although Congress designated Tribal Colleges as land-grant institutions in 1994, 

they receive only $4.4 million in federal monies compared to $300 million for state 

schools and $43.9 million for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). 

Inequity in research funding is even greater, with $1.8 million being afforded to 

TCUs compared to $243.7 million to state schools and $52.5 million to HBCUs. 

Enrollment at Tribal Colleges has grown by 23 percent over the past five years 

as more Native American students see a higher education as a path to self-subsistence and a better life. A growing future Native student population combined with 

the current need gap means the need for financial assistance will only increase. 

(Source: AIHEC). The American Indian College Fund believes a combination of yearround Pell Grants, additional federal funding for tribal colleges, programmatic support for the TCUs, and scholarships for Native students is the way to meet that 

growing need. Unmet need will only result in fewer students and lost opportunities 

for the neediest of Native people to become self-sufficient and provide better lives 

for themselves, their families, and their communities. 

The American Indian College Fund, for its part, is working to raise funds from 

individual, corporate, and foundation entities to provide a greater number of scholarship programs for Native students as part of its 25th anniversary fundraising initiative, as stated in testimony. 

Summary Recommendations 

To meet current unmet and projected future student need for financial aid as 

more Native American students see a higher education as a path to a better life, 

while helping to eliminate the current economic and educational disparity in Native 

57 

communities, the American Indian College Fund advocates a two-prong approach to 

Pell Grant and federal student loan issues. 

First, until federal policy is changed, the College Fund recommends the decoupling of the student loan program and institutional Pell Grant eligibility, as most 

Tribal Colleges will opt not to participate in loan programs because the risk of losing Pell Grant eligibility for thousands of American Indian students who rely upon 

Pell Grants to earn their educations is just too great for the reasons stated throughout this document. 

Second, the American Indian College Fund advocates offering year-round Pell 

Grants to promote Native student access to education. Year-round Pell Grants 

would promote access to higher education for the most underserved group of students in the nation. Native Americans have the lowest college enrollment and degree-attainment rates in the country, which can be attributed to high rates of poverty, as noted. 

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American Indian communities are generally located on Indian reservations geographically isolated and culturally distinct. Most educators and other school personnel may not commit to tribal education as a long-term career. Lack of an investment in personnel hurts the curriculum and pedagogy, contributing even further to 

students’ disconnecting from the educational system. 

Question 1. If we are not ‘‘growing our own’’ teachers and principals, school districts need to recruit school personnel from much further away. How can do we increase the number of skilled educators who see tribal education as a lifelong career, 

and not just a step to a non-tribal school district? 

Question 1a. What incentives are there for highly qualified teachers to commit to 

high need, high poverty and tribal schools? What else is needed? 

Answer. Currently the difficulties for Tribal Colleges is having the ability to provide 4 year degrees to tribal and community members who do not want to leave the 

reservation, but want to pursue a higher teaching degree. Developing hybrid 

courses, 2 +2 opportunities, and distance education programs from collaborating universities will increase the numbers of qualified educators. Funding in this area has 

to reflect a commitment to growing our own, currently Blackfeet Community Colleges engages in these activities, but we incur all costs without out funding. Additionally, outside professionals who work in disadvantaged areas are given loan forgiveness opportunities, while the opportunities for these programs for local native 

professionals are not equitable. An examination of the loan forgiveness program for 

allowing local Native Americans who are educated in the tribal college system to 

be eligible for this benefit is warranted. 

BCC has engaged in unique behavioral health aide programming, we have worked 

with the local school district to improve the skill level of Native American teacher 

aides, which has resulted in improved skills sets and possible salary raises for 

teacher aides who further their education in this program. This is developing and 

addressing a need for the school district and improving the quality of teacher aides, 

which have historically been in the school district for years. Paraprofessional educational opportunities have to be supported financially as an intervention for improved services to tribal communities. 

Question 2. TCUs have a unique role as primary training campuses for preparing 

teachers and administrators for both Indian educators and non-Indians working 

with Native American learners.What else can we do to increase the pipeline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives to pursue and excel as teachers and administrative leaders? 

Answer. Tribal colleges are in remote areas, providing and financially supporting 

more hybrid and distance education programs in all areas, BA, MA, and Ph.D., is 

definitely needed. The funding levels of these programs are often funded by the tribVerDate Mar 15 2010 12:41 Nov 25, 2014 Jkt 091487 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\91487.TXT JACK

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al college without financial support, but because tribal college’s commitment to improved education for native people is a mission, we attempt to offer programming 

without compensation which impacts an already stressed budget. 

One important aspect of lowering unemployment and strengthening the economy 

is improving the partnerships among Business (who know what skills their workers 

need), Training Programs (e.g., community colleges, who could prepare workers with 

these skills) and the potential workforce (to gain these skills for available jobs). 

Question 3. Congress is working on reauthorizing the Workforce Improvement Act. 

Could you describe the role of tribal colleges and universities in being part of the 

network of training the un- and underemployed and working with the business community to identify needed workers and skill sets? 

Question 3a. To what extent have tribal colleges made themselves eligible entities 

for WIA training funds? 

Question 3b. How do TCUs work with their tribal governments and regional employers to identify business and job opportunities which the TCUs would help prepare a skilled workforce? 

Answer. Tribal colleges often respond to on demand training programs for the 

local workforce. Tribal councils and tribal workforce programs will identify needed 

training and the tribal colleges will respond to provide training to eventually improve the local economy by addressing workforce development opportunities. Workforce development has been a critical function of tribal colleges. For BCC, we have 

a Career Center with distance capabilities and networking with the tribal, state, 

and federal job recruitment opportunities. 

WIA is a Blackfeet Manpower One Stop funding trajectory. When the tribe is the 

primary applicant for funding the tribal college does not compete with tribal applications. Increasing tribal college specific funding in these areas would improve the 

ability to respond to workforce needs. 

Question 4. Too many students are entering college, including tribal colleges and 

universities, unable to do college level work. This increases the need for remedial 

courses in college, and delays the time students need to earn their college degrees. 

What should the federal government and tribal governments do to reduce the need 

for college remediation so that incoming students are able to do college-level work? 

Answer. College prepared students attending colleges across the United States is 

at an overall low. This is impacting the educational system of the nation, including 

tribal colleges. At BCC, we are attempting to engage in more dual credit opportunities for high school students. Additionally, we are offering summer courses for high 

school students in developmental education courses. Again, the cost of this programming is not supported by funding and we are incurring those costs. Novel, unique, 

local programming such as these need to be investigated for improved outcomes. 

However, funding is limited and research funding for unique educational models is 

difficult for tribal colleges to attain as we are often competing with the university 

systems. Research funding specifically for tribal colleges in addressing the educational needs of their reservations could provide unique educational interventions 

and promising best practices. 

Æ