I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1528 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to fulfill the Federal 
mandate to provide higher educational opportunities for Native American 
Indians. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 15, 2017 
Mr. TIPTON (for himself, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. COLE, Mr. CA´RDENAS, and Ms. 
MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to 
fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational 
opportunities for Native American Indians. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American In-
dian Education Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that Federal 
funding is provided to support and sustain the long-
standing Federal mandate requiring colleges and States 
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to waive, in certain circumstances, tuition charges for Na-
tive American Indian students they admit to an under-
graduate college program, including the waiver of tuition 
charges for Native American Indian students who are not 
residents of the State in which the college is located. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Native American-serving nontribal college 
institutions have a valuable supplemental role to 
that provided by tribally controlled community col-
leges in making available educational opportunities 
to Native American Indian students. 
(2) Some 4-year Native American-serving non-
tribal college institutions provide tuition-free edu-
cation, with the support of the State in which they 
are located, as mandated by Federal statute, to hun-
dreds of Native American Indian students in fulfill-
ment of a condition under which the United States 
provided land and facilities for such colleges to a 
State or college. 
(3) The value of the Native student tuition 
waiver benefits contributed by these colleges and the 
States which support them today far exceeds the 
value of the original grant of land and facilities. 
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(4) The ongoing financial burden of meeting 
this Federal mandate to provide tuition-free edu-
cation to Native American Indian students is no 
longer equitably shared among the States and col-
leges because the mandate does not distinguish be-
tween such students who are residents of the State 
or who are residents of another State. 
(5) Native student tuition waiver benefits are 
now at risk of being terminated by severe budget 
constraints being experienced by these colleges and 
the States which support them. 
SEC. 4. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL HIGHER EDUCATION 
MANDATE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title III of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1057 et seq.) is amend-
ed by inserting after section 319 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 319A. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL HIGHER EDU-
CATION MANDATE. 
‘‘(a) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—For fiscal year 2018 
and each succeeding fiscal year through fiscal year 2022, 
the Secretary may pay to any eligible college an amount 
that equals the charges for tuition waived by the college 
(as described in subsection (e)(1)) for the academic year 
ending before the beginning of such fiscal year for Native 
American Indian students who were enrolled in the college 
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for such academic year and who were not residents of the 
State in which the college is located during such academic 
year. 
‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF PAYMENT.—Any amounts re-
ceived by an eligible college under subsection (a) shall be 
treated as a reimbursement from the State in which the 
college is located, which is provided in fulfillment of any 
Federal mandate upon the State to waive charges for tui-
tion for Native American Indian students. 
‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to relieve any State from any man-
date the State may have under Federal law to reimburse 
an eligible college for an academic year— 
‘‘(1) with respect to Native American Indian 
students enrolled in the college who are not residents 
of the State in which the college is located, any 
amount of charges for tuition waived by the college 
for such students that exceeds the amount received 
by the college under subsection (a) for such aca-
demic year; and 
‘‘(2) with respect to Native American Indian 
students enrolled in the college who are residents of 
the State in which the college is located, an amount 
equal to the charges for tuition waived by the college 
for such students for such academic year. 
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‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of any other 
section of this part or part G shall not apply with 
respect to funds paid under this section. 
‘‘(2) NO EFFECT ON ELIGIBILITY.—Funds re-
ceived by a Native American-serving, nontribal insti-
tution under this section shall not be taken into ac-
count for purposes of section 319(d)(3)(A). 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE
COLLEGE.—The term ‘eligible 
college’ means any 4-year Native American-serving, 
nontribal institution that waives the charges for tui-
tion as mandated by Federal statute, with the sup-
port of the State in which the institution is located, 
for Native American Indian students in fulfillment 
of a condition under which the institution or State 
received its original grant of land and facilities from 
the United States. 
‘‘(2) NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS.— 
The term ‘Native American Indian students’ in-
cludes reference to the term ‘Indian pupils’ as that 
term has been utilized in Federal statutes imposing 
a mandate upon any eligible college or State to 
waive charges for tuition for Native American Indian 
students in fulfillment of a condition under which 
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the college or State received its original grant of 
land and facilities from the United States. 
‘‘(3) NATIVE
AMERICAN-SERVING, NONTRIBAL 
INSTITUTION.—The term ‘Native American-serving, 
nontribal institution’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 319(b). 
‘‘(f) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds under 
this section shall be used to supplement, not supplant, any 
Federal or non-Federal funds that would otherwise be 
used for Indian education programs.’’. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 399(a)(1) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1068h(a)(1)) 
is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as sub-
paragraph (G); and 
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(F) There are authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out section 319A, $17,400,000 for each of fis-
cal years 2018 through 2022.’’. 
Æ 
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