To ease financial burden on state, DeGette files bill requiring federal government to cover tuition cost for out-of-state Native American students

Statement

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) joined with several of her fellow Colorado lawmakers today to introduce legislation aimed at reducing the financial burden that a century old law is placing on states' education budgets.

The legislation -- cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Rep. Scott Tipton (CO-03) - would require the federal government to pay the cost of providing out-of-state Native American students with a tuition-free higher education, instead of forcing individual states to shoulder that burden, as required under current law.

"This is a bipartisan, commonsense piece of legislation that allows us to keep the promise we made to our Native American and Alaska Native students," DeGette said. "It also ensures that the federal government is paying its share of the cost to educate these students, which will allow each state to use a greater portion of the money it has to provide even more tuition assistance to its own in-state students."

While the promise of a free college education for Native American students was one made by the federal government, each individual state is ultimately responsible for covering the cost of providing that free education to any Native American student that attends a school in that state.

In an effort to alleviate the financial burden this places on some states, such as Colorado, the DeGette's legislation would require states to cover only the cost of providing a tuition-free higher education to its own in-state Native American students. And it would require the federal government to cover the cost of providing a tuition-free higher education to any out-of-state Native American students who choose to attend a college or university in a state other that their own.

"We, as a nation, made a promise to these students, and we should continue honor that commitment," DeGette said. "But, as the same time, we must find ways to alleviate some of the financial burden that states like Colorado are experiencing as a result of this program."

Proponents of the legislation argue its necessary to help lessen the burden on states, such as Colorado, that have a proportionally high number of Native American students who choose to move there for school. They also argue that freeing up state funds that are currently being used to cover the tuition of out-of-state Native American students, states will be able to provide more tuition assistance to even more in-state students.

Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, for example, is one of only a handful of schools across the country that offers Native American students, regardless of where they currently live, a tuition-free college education. That offer, which applies to any Native American student in the country, has led to hundreds of students flocking to Colorado to attend the Durango school.

The requirement that states fully fund the educations of both in-state and out-of-state Native American students places a tremendous burden on some states' budgets. In Colorado, there are approximately 1,200 out-of-state Native American and Native Alaskan students currently attending Fort Lewis College. Those out-of-state students alone cost the state of Colorado approximately $20 million per year to educate.

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