Indigenous students from other states could have access to in-state tuition in Colorado – The Denver Post

Recognizing the forced relocation of countless American Indian tribes out of Colorado, a new bill could grant Indigenous out-of-state students whose tribal nations are historically tied to the state access to in-state college tuition.

The bill, which passed the Senate Education Committee in February, would require Colorado’s higher education institutions to offer in-state tuition to registered members of the 48 known Indigenous tribes with historical Colorado ties starting this fall. Colorado has two federally recognized Native American tribes: the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.

“The members of the 48 known tribes who have historical ties to Colorado were pushed or forced out of their lands,” said Democratic Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, one of the bill’s sponsors. “It’s a reckoning that when we did that, they lost opportunities. It’s a first step in acknowledging that and that this would have been their homeland had they not been forced out and they would have received in-state tuition.”

Noah Shadlow, a 20-year-old Indigenous student at Durango’s Fort Lewis College, had the opportunity to leave his home state of Oklahoma because Fort Lewis goes beyond what the bill would do by offering free tuition for members of a U.S. federally recognized Native American tribe or Alaska Native Village.

“A lot of Native students feel very limited on where they can get their education,” said Shadlow, who is a member of the Osage Nation and a descendant of the Otoe-Missouria, Acoma Pueblo and Cherokee Nation. “People are finally starting to recognize the truth that if those tribes weren’t removed, they would be living on their lands. It’s important to recognize that history and the benefits afforded to certain people rather than those that were taken away.”

The legislation began as student activism on the University of Colorado Denver campus and was taken up by the CU Board of Regents. The legislation — sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Benavidez, House Speaker Alec Garnett and Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg — was expanded to include all state higher education institutions rather than just CU.

John Ronquillo, an assistant professor at CU Denver with Indigenous ancestry, is engaged in a long-term project focused on Indigenous leadership and governance. Ronquillo said the bill is a great first step but scratches the surface of what needs to be done.

“You should be taking students enrolled in these historical tribes with ties to Colorado and you should educate them for free,” Ronquillo said. “It could go further but for a first step, one albeit really late in history, it’s good. I think it’s a start. I hope we can expand on this.”

The bill, if passed, is budgeted as a $240,000 appropriation to the College Opportunity Fund.

“It’s effectively lost revenue but no one knows the actual number of students that this would impact,” Benavidez said when asked how much the effort would cost. “All the colleges are supportive and they see the need to do this and have those students on the campuses.”

For Shadlow, being in community of Native students has been pivotal to his positive college experience, from seeing people who look like him to participating in cultural Native events.

“It made me want to delve deeper into my own culture,” said Shadlow, who has been studying the Osage language. “It made me look introspectively as an Osage.”

Ronquillo also said Native Americans, in general, are among the lowest group enrolled in colleges.

“Underfunded. Historically displaced. Historically disenfranchised from those postsecondary opportunities,” Ronquillo said.

Since 2011, CSU has offered in-state tuition to students who are members of tribes with historical ties to Colorado. Last year, the university in Fort Collins expanded the in-state tuition offer to students from any state or federally recognized tribes or descendants of tribally enrolled citizens.

CSU President Joyce McConnell said in addition to offering in-state tuition, it’s important to support Native American students once they get to campus.

“Our Native students will tell us of the loneliness and feeling out of place when they leave their tribes,” McConnell said, noting that the campus created a dedicated cultural center to help Indigenous students find community and have access to resources and extra support they may need to learn and grow.

“I think this is long overdue,” Benavidez said. “I think if it will encourage some members of those tribes whose ancestral homelands were here in Colorado — if it brings them home — that’s a good thing.”

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