Tribal Colleges: Rooted in Community, Threatened by Budget Cuts

RECENT FEDERAL CUTS HAVE RESUMED POLICIES THAT UNDERFUND TRIBAL COLLEGES, BUT THESE COLLEGES ARE DETERMINED TO CONTINUE THRIVING AS HUBS OF SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND ECONOMIC VITALITY FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES.

Growing up in Browning, a small town on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, Lisa Aimsback (Blackfeet) was certain of one thing: she would move on when she could.

Today, she can’t imagine leaving.

The change began when Aimsback enrolled in Blackfeet Community College, a tribal college in her hometown. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work and is pursuing a master’s degree in social work in partnership with the University of Montana.

As a youth mental health professional, she is currently helping second- and third-graders process trauma through social-emotional learning, cultural teachings, and the kind of steady presence that comes from knowing a place deeply.

Yet colleges like the one that helped shape Aimsback’s career now face mounting financial challenges, including proposed federal funding cuts that its leaders say could jeopardize their missions, if not their existence.

Tribal colleges serve as hubs for rural communities.

Still, Aimsback’s experience highlights an important role of tribal colleges and universities, known as TCUs. They educate students, Native and non-Native alike, in rural areas where higher education options are often few and far between. First-generation college students, parents, and working adults fill many of their classrooms and often remain in their communities, contributing to families, local economies, and cultural life.

Beyond affordable higher education, TCUs strengthen local workforces, add to the economic vitality of their rural communities, and serve as social, cultural, and economic hubs.

While they are vital to rural communities, TCUs have been struggling under decades of underfunding and are now confronting renewed uncertainty as federal support comes under threat.

But the TCUs themselves, along with organizations like the American Indian College Fund, are determined to preserve these institutions that have already survived and adapted through decades of challenges.

Tribal colleges strengthen communities from within.

While many rural communities struggle to remain vibrant, those with a tribal college have a healthy head start. TCUs are among the largest employers and nonprofits in their regions. They also serve as workforce training centers, gathering spaces, sources of broadband access, and stewards of language and culture. They help develop the teachers, counselors, health care workers, and leaders who enrich community life.

“The tribal college here on our reservation is embedded in the community. We’re part of the fabric of everything that happens,” said Twyla Baker (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara). She is the president of Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish (NHS) College in New Town, ND, a community of about 3,000 on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

The college serves between 200 to 250 students each semester and plays a vital role in the region’s economy. NHS College added nearly $20 million to the economy of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and supported 216 jobs during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, according to an economic impact report provided by the college. Its alumni added $11 million in earnings to the region.

And it’s not just NHS College. Nationally, studies show that tribal colleges generate strong returns on public investment.

Tribal colleges are powerful resources for Native cultural life.

But economic benefits were not the main impetus for creating TCUs. The tribal college movement emerged during the civil rights era and Native renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s, when Native communities sought to provide their communities with an affordable, accessible path to higher education that was rooted in their values while developing the next generation of community leaders.

Built with limited resources but strong community support, many of these institutions have spent decades overcoming financial constraints while steadily expanding their programs, partnerships, and impact.

“Without tribal colleges, the majority of students would not go to college,” said Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sicangu Lakota), president and chief executive officer of the American Indian College Fund. “You don’t have to remove yourself from your cultural, ceremonial, and social environment.”

Today, cultural connection remains central to the mission, fostering belonging among Native students and cultural awareness among both Native and non-Native students.

At Blackfeet Community College, Aimsback gathered with other students for Cultural Fridays, and she now integrates traditional plants and teachings in her own work with children. For Aimsback, a mother of six and a foster parent, connection to culture turned education from a pathway out of Browning to one that led deeper in.

Chronic underfunding meets a new era of instability.

Such successes have not come easily.

Since their creation, tribal colleges have operated with less federal support than lawmakers envisioned when Congress authorized the system through the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978. TCUs may be receiving as much as $250 million less annually than the inflation-adjusted funding level authorized under the law, according to a report by ProPublica. And that could drastically drop.

At the national level, management of tribal college funds has recently shifted from the US Department of Education to the US Department of the Interior (DOI). In its 2027 budget request, the DOI proposed cutting $150 million from TCUs. In 2025, TCUs received $196 million from the federal government.

Despite financial constraints, tribal colleges have expanded, now numbering 34 institutions across 13 states. Enrollment has grown, academic programs have multiplied, and institutions have built partnerships that help students move from associate and bachelor’s degrees to graduate programs.

But college leaders worry the latest funding threats could jeopardize decades of hard-won progress. Baker calls her institution’s financial challenges an existential threat.

At Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, aging infrastructure, faculty recruitment challenges, and stretched student services reflect the consequences of chronic underfunding.

The school needs a new heating and cooling system that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace in a place with numbingly frigid winters.

“These are the questions that kind of plague me every night,” Baker said.

The effects extend beyond campuses. Cuts to tribal colleges ripple outward, with surrounding communities potentially losing workforce development, health care access, economic growth, essential roadwork, and community stability.

What happens at tribal colleges does not stay at tribal colleges.

The College Fund responds with added funding for students and TCUs.

The American Indian College Fund is helping students and institutions navigate the economic turmoil.

One of the nation’s largest supporters of Native higher education, the College Fund provides scholarships, mentoring, coaching, college access programs, and emergency assistance to students. Last year alone, it distributed more than $23 million in scholarships and other support.

The organization also helps TCUs with grants, staff development programs, and other support. It recently created a new fund designed to help colleges weather financial instability.

“We cannot replace federal funding,” Crazy Bull said. “But we can provide some relief.”

For Aimsback, that support has been life changing. Scholarships helped her continue her education while balancing work, school, and family responsibilities. The College Fund also encouraged her to aim for a master’s degree.

When she received her bachelor’s degree, her children were in the audience cheering, and her mother, who had overcome addiction, graduated alongside her with her own degree in social work.

The moment represented more than academic achievement. It represented possibility.

Tribal colleges are often measured by enrollment numbers, graduation rates, and economic impact. Yet their broader contribution is harder to quantify. They cultivate teachers, counselors, leaders, language keepers, and caregivers who remain rooted in the places they love while building stronger futures for themselves and their neighbors.

For Aimsback, education did not become a path away from home. It became a reason to stay.

As Baker said, “The future is bright if we can continue to support our students.”