Dear John,
Brutal budget cuts to Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) proposed by the Trump administration are a serious threat to Native futures.
For generations, Native peoples have faced relentless attacks aimed at erasing their cultures – from forced removals to boarding schools – and continued to pass down language, tradition, and knowledge against all odds. But now, a new threat looms: The Department of the Interior is proposing an 83% cut to TCUs, slashing their federal funding from $127 million in 2024 to just $22 million in 2025.
This isn’t just a budget issue. It’s a stark act of systemic inequality – one that would deepen educational divides and severely undermine Native sovereignty, opportunity, and justice. Over $100 million would be ripped from the institutions that serve as cultural lifelines for some of the most underserved students in the country – students who deserve not only access to education, but to education rooted in their own histories, values, and culture.
Tribal Colleges already operate on chronically inadequate budgets. They do so while providing pathways to economic mobility, reviving Indigenous languages, training local health workers, and stewarding cultural heritage.
These proposed cuts would shutter programs, cost jobs, and deny thousands of Native students roots in their futures.
Send a direct message to Congress: Stop this attack on Indigenous self-determination and support equity in education. Protect and expand funding for Tribal Colleges and Universities now.
These proposed cuts are a dangerous reinforcement of inequality, sending the message that Native lives, knowledge, and institutions are expendable. Tribal Colleges are not only centers of higher learning – they are vibrant expressions of self-determination:
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At Tohono O’odham Community College, environmental science students study Indigenous ecological systems that provide crucial insights into surviving the climate crisis.
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At Salish Kootenai College, Native nursing students train to serve their own rural and often medically underserved communities.
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At Oglala Lakota College, degrees in education and business help build the next generation of tribal leaders and small business owners.
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And at the Institute of American Indian Arts, students carry forward Native storytelling, creative arts, and spiritual traditions that are thousands of years old – and still evolving.
The proposed cuts are a betrayal of the federal government’s legal and moral obligations to attempt to right the wrongs of history. If Congress truly respects Tribal sovereignty, it must reject this devastating proposal – and fully fund TCUs at the long-promised level of $40,000 per student.
Tell Congress: Education should be a bridge to justice – not another eradication of Indigenous culture. Fully fund Tribal Colleges and Universities.
Thank you for standing with Native students, nations, and communities to ensure their ways of life and knowledge not only survive, but thrive.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
