And although all but two states have lotteries, state lottery revenues have not been used as a justification to decrease federal funding to state-run universities. American Indian tribes should not be held to a double standard by the federal government. American Indian tribes are sovereign nations. They cannot be expected to share revenues any more than gaming states are expected to share their revenues with non-gaming states. Because tribal colleges are located on federal trust lands, the states in which these institutions are located are under no obligation to fund them.
Federal funding is critical to their survival.
Tribal colleges are unparalleled in their ability to provide the knowledge and skills students need to become successfully employed, and their job placement rates are extremely high. More than 40 percent of Tribal College graduates transfer to four-year degree programs. Prepared from document supplied by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, July 1997.