House Education takes up tribal college funding ‘inequities’

There’s one silver lining to the way tribal colleges are funded, a method that creates heartburn for campus presidents.

“There are only two states in the nation that fund non-tribal college students that attend tribal colleges, and Montana is one of them,” said Sandra Boham, president of Salish Kootenai College.

But the way the state’s seven tribal colleges receive money from the state has inequities, said Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning. Last week, the House Education Committee heard House Bill 626, which Running Wolf presented as a means of addressing the shortfalls.

The primary issue on which the committee heard testimony was the amount of money tribal colleges receive for state residents who aren’t tribal members or children of tribal members, “non-beneficiary students.” Running Wolf said on average, community colleges that aren’t tribal schools get $6,700 per non-beneficiary student, but a tribal college gets at most, $3,280 per non-beneficiary.

“That’s a big gap and a big difference,” said Running Wolf.

The bill proposes funding at tribal colleges would never drop below $3,280 per non-beneficiary student rather than be capped at $3,280. The bill also would create an inflationary adjustment.

Running Wolf noted the tribal campuses in Montana are all in good standing when it comes to accreditation. He estimated the average non-beneficiary full-time equivalent at 250 across all the tribal colleges; he said the highest count was 334 in the 2013 fiscal year, and the lowest was 214 last year due to the pandemic.

No one opposed the bill, and representatives from the Blackfeet Tribe, Western Native Voice, Montana Native Vote, Montana Associated Students, Stone Child College, Aaniiih Nakoda College, and Little Big Horn College spoke in support of the changes.

Sen. Shane Morigeau submitted a letter noting the American Indian Caucus backs the bill. At the hearing, he called for consistent funding for the campuses and said the students with a degree then benefit Montana’s economy.

“The Indian Caucus would like to continue the effort to recruit, educate and train Montanans who will stay to fill some of those high demand jobs we need in our rural communities as well, which is why tribal colleges are so important,” said Morigeau, D-Missoula.

Boham, at SKC, said the funding method makes it difficult to budget at a tribal college. Basically, she said a general pot of money is appropriated, and then after all the tribal colleges turn in their non-beneficiary enrollment numbers, the pot of funds gets divided.

THE DOLLAR amount per student has ranged from $1,400 in 2006 to $2,800 in 2018, she said, and no one knows what it will be at the end of this year. (A similar issue exists with federal funds going to tribal colleges, compounding budgeting challenges, she said.)

“We get half the funding per FTE and then we provide tuition waivers on top of that,” Boham said.

In the meantime, though, she and other college presidents said their campuses serve students who live close to the schools, may not be able to afford to travel far for a degree or certificate, and need an affordable education.

“We recognize that our students that are not tribal that attend our tribal colleges are place-bound in the same way that many of our tribal college students are,” Boham said. “They live, they work and they are part of our communities, and they contribute to our state. And we are an affordable option for them for college.”

With excellent grant writers, she said the Salish Kootenai College budget is 60 percent grant funded, and the school has not raised its tuition since 2013-14: “We know we can’t price out our Montana students. They’ve got to be able to have an affordable access.”

Sean Chandler, with ANC, said their tuition rates have stayed level since 2007, and their campus is 80 percent grant funded. Students who are tribal members as well as those who are not praise the opportunities and experiences ANC offers them, he said.

“This college is all about community, the Hi-Line, and the people that live in it,” Chandler said.

David Yarlott, president of Little Big Horn College, said students all pay the same tuition. Their education means they are more likely to get a job and contribute to society rather than become a burden on the social welfare system, so he sees the bill as a way to invest in their futures.

“We could probably say we could pay it now, or we could pay it later. Paying it later would be much more costly,” he said.

Monday, House Education Chairman Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, said roughly 10 bills were ready for executive action in the committee, and he anticipated legislators would take up several Wednesday.