Appendix E
Sources of Federal Funding for Tribal Colleges and Universities
The Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978 (TCCUAA), administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, authorizes funding for tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in several ways.
Title I provides funding for eligible TCUs through a formula based on the number of Indian students enrolled ( the “Indian student count” or ISC). Non-Indian students, who make up a significant percentage of total enrollments at Title I colleges, are not funded. Title I is authorized to provide $6,000 per Indian student, with a maximum total amount of $40 million. Funding per student in 2005 was $4,447.
Title II provides funding for core operations for Diné College.
Title III provides matching funds for endowment grants and is authorized at $10 million. However, appropriations have never surpassed $1 million.
Title IV is authorized at $2 million to finance local economic development projects, but funds have never been appropriated.
Additional funds are authorized for facilities renovation and technical assistance.
Some colleges that are not funded through TCCUAA receive core operational funding through other federal mechanisms, such as the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act, which limits funding to only one TCU per tribe.
In 1994, Congress designated 29 TCUs as land grant institutions. Institutions that were not accredited did not qualify for land grant designation, but some of these colleges were grandfathered in at a later date. The land grant institutions (referred to as the 1994s) receive equity grants—$50,000 per institution—for improving their programs in agriculture and natural resources, share the interest from an endowment fund that receives $4.6 million annually, and may compete for funding for extension programs (about $2 million). In addition, the creation of a new research program was authorized in fiscal year (FY) 1999.
Some TCUs—like other minority-serving institutions—receive funding under Title III of the Higher Education Act, the Aid for Institutional Development Program. In FY 1998, TCUs had eight ongoing competitive grants under Part A, for a total of $2.6 million out of more than $55 million available. In FY 1999, a separate section under Title III was added for TCUs, HBCUs, and Hispanic-serving institutions. Although $10 million was authorized under the new section, only $3 million was appropriated.
TCUs also receive minimal funding from other sources: state block grant programs for adult education; Minority Science Improvement Program; Environmental Management Grants; and other specially directed funds. In 1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded rural
development grants to four colleges to improve aspects of their agricultural programs and make them “Centers of Excellence” in the nationwide rural development network.
When the White House Executive Order on Tribal Colleges was signed in 1996 to affirm the important role of TCUs in reservation development, all federal departments and agencies were ordered to increase their support for TCUs.
Material contained in this Appendix E is drawn from two sources:
TCJ (Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education). 2005. 16(3): 34, and AIHEC. 1999. Tribal Colleges: An Introduction. E1–E5. Some of the information in the AIHEC document was compiled by Carrie Billy, deputy director, AIHEC, in 1998 for the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities.
