{"id":153954,"date":"2025-06-20T09:06:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=153954"},"modified":"2025-06-20T10:36:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T15:36:00","slug":"new-mexico-in-depth-tribal-colleges-face-major-cut-in-federal-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2025\/06\/20\/new-mexico-in-depth-tribal-colleges-face-major-cut-in-federal-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico In Depth: Tribal colleges face major cut in federal funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Kaiya<\/a>
Kaiya Brown stands on campus at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before heading to her internship at a local, Native nonprofit on June 10, 2025. Photo: Bella Davis \/ New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption>\r\n
Proposed federal funding cuts to tribal colleges spark fear<\/div>\r\n
Friday, June 20, 2025<\/div>\r\n
By Bella Davis, New Mexico In Depth<\/a> <\/div>

<\/P>\r\n

Kaiya Brown was at work last week when she started getting the texts. Her friends were asking if she\u2019d seen the news: The Trump administration wants to cut funding for tribal colleges by nearly 90%.<\/p>

Brown (Din\u00e9) is in her first year at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in northwest Albuquerque, one of 37 tribal colleges and universities in the country and four in New Mexico, many of which offer free tuition to tribal citizens.<\/p>

If Congress approves the administration\u2019s\u00a0budget request<\/a>\u00a0released last month, funding for the schools will drop from over $183 million to about $22 million in the next fiscal year, starting in October. Federal funding makes up 74% of total revenue for tribal colleges and universities, ICT\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in January.<\/p> \r\n

\r\n
\r\n\t\tThis story was originally published<\/a> by New Mexico In Depth.\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>

<\/p>\t\r\n\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really scary,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI don\u2019t think enough people understand the importance of tribal colleges and what they do for our communities. They provide opportunities that many students would have never had. It makes me really emotional, honestly, because they don\u2019t understand how this would impact so many lives.\u201d<\/p>

Brown is studying early childhood education with hopes of going into social work to advocate for Native children.<\/p>

<\/i> The Sandia Mountains can be seen from the entrance to Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in northwest Albuquerque. (Bella Davis\/New Mexico In Depth)<\/p><\/figure><\/figure>

Part of why she chose a tribal college was because she didn\u2019t feel safe or supported at her\u00a0Rio Rancho high school<\/a>. In one instance, Brown wore her regalia, including moccasins and jewelry, to school, and a teacher asked, \u201cWhere\u2019s your feathers?\u201d Another time, she and a couple other Native students were carrying frybread for a sale, and a group of their peers started mocking them. One of the students told them, \u201cI thought we killed all your people.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\"Southwestern<\/a>

The Sandia Mountains can be seen from the entrance to Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in northwest Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photo: Bella Davis \/ New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

Her experience so far at college, Brown said, couldn\u2019t be more different.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re all so close to one another. We all want to see each other succeed,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I truly feel that from the staff and from my instructors. These are Native instructors, people that look like me and know my ways.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

She\u2019s also enjoyed the small class sizes. Last fall, 215 students were enrolled, according to\u00a0data from the college<\/a>, which was founded in 1971. The largest class Brown is in right now has five students total. Instead of getting lost in a lecture hall with a hundred other people, she\u2019s able to get more hands-on help from instructors.<\/p>

But the mood on campus hasn\u2019t been the same lately, Brown said. The community has been reeling from a round of layoffs earlier this year.<\/p>\r\n\"Southwestern<\/a>

In fall 2024, about 62% of the 215 students enrolled were citizens of the Navajo Nation, according to data available on the college\u2019s website. Credit: Bella Davis\/New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

The institute, along with Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas, is federally operated. In February, the Bureau of Indian Education laid off dozens of faculty and staff members at the two institutions in response to Trump\u2019s directives to reduce the federal workforce. Many classes were left without instructors, and a power outage in Brown\u2019s dorm lasted 13 hours because there weren\u2019t enough maintenance workers available to fix it. A few weeks later, some employees were re-hired, but it was unclear whether the hirings were permanent or temporary.<\/p>

That\u2019s according to a\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0against the federal government brought by the Native American Rights Fund in March. Brown is a plaintiff, along with four Haskell students and three tribal nations, including Isleta Pueblo.<\/p>

\u201cTribal nations and the federal government should be working together to best serve our Native students,\u201d Isleta Pueblo Gov. Eugene Jiron said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>. \u201cInstead, the administration is randomly, without preparation and in violation of their federal trust responsibility, taking away teachers and staff from already-underserved facilities. Our students deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The layoffs worsened problems caused by chronic understaffing at the schools, the lawsuit argues. Congress has underfunded tribal colleges by $250 million a year, ProPublica\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in 2024.<\/p>\r\n\"Southwestern<\/a>

Flowers bloom outside the Science and Technology Building at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in northwest Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photo: Bella Davis \/ New Mexico In Depth<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

The re-hirings brought some relief, Brown said, but the proposed cuts have stirred up fear among students and employees again.<\/p>

\u201cThese schools have done so much for our people,\u201d she said. \u201cSo many passionate people and talented artists have come from these schools. They give us the tools to pursue our dreams. It\u2019s like our stepping stone into the world. And taking that away will be devastating to a lot of students, including myself.\u201d<\/p>

New Mexico is home to three other tribal colleges: Din\u00e9 College, which has campuses in Shiprock and Crownpoint, as well as in Arizona; the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe; and Navajo Technical University, with a main campus in Crownpoint. In fall 2024, an estimated 3,378 students were\u00a0enrolled<\/a>\u00a0at the schools, according to the state Higher Education Department.<\/p>

In a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0on June 4, Robert Martin, president of the Institute of American Indian Arts, said, \u201cI know that we will prevail in the end, but we can\u2019t take that for granted. We have strong Congressional support but they need to hear from all of our constituents.\u201d<\/p>