Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, said his bill will help Native American students graduate. They are among the least likely demographic groups to attend college.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spend a considerable amount of time recruiting students to come here, but they don\u2019t stay because of money,\u201d Salazar said.<\/p>\n
His House Bill 1124 would allow students from any tribe with historic ties to Colorado to qualify for in-state tuition at any of the state\u2019s public colleges and universities.<\/p>\n
The House Education Committee approved it on a 9-4 vote.<\/p>\n
The lone exception to Salazar\u2019s bill would be Fort Lewis College, which already grants free tuition to Native Americans, regardless of their tribes\u2019 historic links to the state. Right now, the state spends about $15 million a year on the Native American Tuition Waiver at Fort Lewis.<\/p>\n
Fort Lewis officials have talked about HB 1124, but they don\u2019t think it will have a negative effect on Native American recruitment at the Durango campus, said Steve Schwartz, vice president of finance and administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Fort Lewis, it\u2019s still free. We still have that price benefit that the other schools don\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In any case, with so few American Indian students attending college, there are plenty of potential students to go around, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it helps Native American students to get educated, then that\u2019s a positive for the Native population,\u201d Schwartz said.<\/p>\n
The Fort Lewis Board of Trustees has not voted to take a position on the bill, but Schwartz said the board might discuss the bill at Friday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s hearing attracted Native education experts from across the state.<\/p>\n
Tanaya Winder grew up in Ignacio and now is director of the University of Colorado\u2019s Upward Bound program.<\/p>\n
She brings Native American high school students to CU every summer to introduce them to the college environment. But typically, more than half of them will not go to college in Colorado, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really do fall in love with the Boulder campus and Colorado,\u201d Winder said. \u201cThey\u2019re not able to come here because of the price.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just one person, J.M. Fay of Aurora, testified against the bill, via a letter she gave Salazar to read.<\/p>\n
It was the federal government, not Colorado, that dispossessed American Indians of their land, Fay\u2019s letter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis took place, like slavery, over 100 years ago. When does it end?\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
The Legislature\u2019s economists estimate it would cost around $6 million, mostly in lost out-of-state tuition revenue for the colleges, to give in-state tuition rates to tribal members. The bill carries one of the higher price tags of any piece of legislation this year.<\/p>\n
But proponents said it\u2019s a worthy investment.<\/p>\n
Carla Fredericks said she couldn\u2019t have afforded to go to CU if she lived on her home reservation in North Dakota. She got in-state tuition because she had moved to Colorado.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s now co-director of the CU Law School\u2019s American Indian Law Program, and she said it can be hard to recruit Native students to her school.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse Bill 1124 helps ensure \u2026 that the future leaders of Indian Country will have access to the type of resources that CU provides,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The bill\u2019s next test is the House Appropriations Committee. A hearing has not been scheduled.<\/p>\n