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Tipton and FLC

Federal help with Native American tuition costs would be welcome

Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, is on the right track with legislation to require the federal government to help the state of Colorado cover the cost of Native American students who get free tuition at Fort Lewis College. Colorado willingly agreed to the original deal by which Native American students were granted free tuition, but the effort has expanded well beyond its original intent and is now effectively a national program. It deserves national support.

Tipton introduced his bill on Wednesday. Supporting and accompanying him were FLC President Dene Thomas and former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe.

Tipton and Thomas characterized the free-tuition provision as an “unfunded federal mandate,” which is historically wrong. As as time goes on, however, that description has become increasingly accurate.

Free tuition at Fort Lewis for qualifying Native American students dates to the terms of a 1910 land grant for the college. It reflects the school’s history dating to the time when, as its name suggests, Fort Lewis was a U.S. Army outpost. And, it should be noted, with the land grant, the free-tuition provision was freely agreed to by the state of Colorado.

Since its days as a military post, Fort Lewis has been an Native American school, a high school and a junior college before finally evolving into its current role as a four-year, liberal arts college. In that time, however, the free-tuition stipulation for Native American students has not only remained, but expanded greatly.

In 1910, Fort Lewis served only a handful of Native American students. That population has since blossomed into more than 1,100 – almost a third of the school’s student body. Native American Fort Lewis students now come from 155 different tribes from across the nation, and their tuition cost the state about $15 million in 2014.

With that growth, and by benefiting students nationwide, the program has essentially become a national effort. Tipton’s bill would bring federal funding to cover the tuition costs of Native students from out of state. That only seems fair, particularly in that it could go a long way toward ensuring the college’s long-term health and success. Native American enrollment at FLC is likely to continue to expand, which would be both excellent and problematic. Absent federal help, it would further stress both FLC’s budget and the state’s.

Tipton’s efforts to help FLC with Native American tuition costs deserve broad, bipartisan support from everyone who cares about higher education, Colorado or Native Americans. He should most particularly have the backing of Colorado’s entire congressional delegation.



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