Trump administration targets tribal college funding for second year in a row

The Trump administration is proposing cuts to federal funding for tribal colleges and universities for the second year in a row. In the fiscal year 2027 budget, President Donald Trump seeks to eliminate funding for the Institute for American Indian Arts, the only federally funded college for contemporary Native American arts. The budget also targets funding for dozens of tribal colleges and universities, as well as Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico. Leaders at TCUs are urging Congress to defend their funding, which they say is part of the country's treaty and trust responsibilities to tribal nations.