I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3040 
To help fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportunities 
for Native American Indians. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 23, 2011 
Mr. TIPTON (for himself, Mr. COLE, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. GARDNER, 
Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. 
LUJA´N, and Mr. POLIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to 
the Committee on Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To help 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 of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that Federal 
funding is provided to support and sustain the long-
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standing Federal mandate requiring colleges and States 
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 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 four-year Native American-serving 
nontribal college institutions provide tuition-free 
education, with the support of the State in which 
they are located, as mandated by Federal statute, to 
hundreds of Native American Indian students in ful-
fillment 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 Indian students is no longer equitably 
shared among the States and colleges because it 
does not distinguish between Indian students who 
are residents of the State or 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 MANDATE. 
(a) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 
and (3), for fiscal year 2011 and each succeeding 
fiscal year, the Secretary of Education shall pay to 
any eligible college an amount equal to the charges 
for tuition for all Indian students who are not resi-
dents of the State in which the college is located and 
who are enrolled in the college for the academic year 
ending before the beginning of such fiscal year. 
(2) ELIGIBLE COLLEGES.—For purposes of this 
section, an eligible college is any four-year Native 
American-serving nontribal institution of higher edu-
cation which provides tuition-free education as man-
dated by Federal statute, with the support of the 
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State in which it is located, to Native American In-
dian students in fulfillment of a condition under 
which the college or State received its original grant 
of land and facilities from the United States. 
(3) LIMITATION.—The amount paid to any col-
lege for each fiscal year under paragraph (1) may 
not exceed the amount equal to the charges for tui-
tion for all Indian students of that college who were 
not residents of the State in which the college is lo-
cated and who were enrolled in the college for aca-
demic year 2010–2011. 
(b) TREATMENT OF PAYMENT.—Any amounts re-
ceived by a college under this section shall be treated as 
a reimbursement from the State in which the college is 
located, and shall be considered as provided in fulfillment 
of any Federal mandate upon the State to admit Indian 
students free of charge of tuition. 
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 
shall be construed to relieve any State from any mandate 
it may have under Federal law to reimburse a college for 
each academic year— 
(1) with respect to 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 for such students that exceeds the 
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