University of Wisconsin-Madison launches Native tuition promise program

UW-Madison hung Ho-Chunk banners on Bascom Hall last month, commissioned as part of the university’s 175th anniversary. UW-Madison occupies land that was the ancestral home of the Ho-Chunk.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is pledging to cover the full cost of a college degree for students from Wisconsin Indian tribes under a new program announced Monday.

Dubbed the Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise, the program launches next fall. Unlike the university’s other tuition promise program, this one isn’t based on financial need. All enrolled members of Wisconsin tribes qualify.

At the heart of the initiative is an effort to reckon the university’s complex history with Native communities in a more tangible way than its previous, largely symbolic gestures. UW-Madison also wants to help the demographic of students who most struggle to make it through college by eliminating financial barriers.

“Frankly, it just felt like the right thing to do,” UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said during a media briefing. “As we look at ways to honor the history of this state and what happened before the state of Wisconsin was the state of Wisconsin, and as we think about trying to help the flourishing of Native students here, it just seems like the right approach.”

While the program’s been in the works for more than a year, the official announcement comes a week after the UW Board of Regents agreed to a deal with the Republican-controlled Legislature for state money in exchange for restructuring dozens of diversity staffing positions. The compromise caused students of color to question the university’s commitment to diversity programming.

“I have said and will continue to say that diversity is a core value for us as an institution here at UW-Madison,” Mnookin said. “This program is another example of the ways that is and will continue to be true.”

Here’s what to know:

Who qualifies for the Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise Program?

Incoming and current students must be enrolled members of federally recognized Wisconsin Indian tribes to qualify. They have to provide proof of enrollment through a tribal ID card or letter.

More:Indigenous or pretender? Questions raised about UW-Milwaukee professor who led Native studies institute

What is included in the program?

UW-Madison will cover not only tuition and fees, but also housing, meals, books and other educational expenses for undergraduate students.

For medical and law students, a five-year pilot program will cover tution and fees, but not books or living expenses.

How is the program funded?

No state taxpayer money is supporting the program, Mnookin said. A mix of philanthropy and institutional funding, such as tuition revenue from out-of-state students, is funding the effort.

UW-Madison officials did not provide an estimated cost for the program. That’s in part because they don’t know how many qualifying students will receive admission and enroll.

How many students will benefit?

About 650 UW-Madison students self-identify as American Indian, alone or in conjunction with other races, according to university data.

This number includes Native students coming from other states and students who don’t meet tribal enrollment requirements, neither of whom will qualify for the Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise.

UW-Madison officials don’t know how many Wisconsin students will benefit. Mnookin said she didn’t think it would be a large number to start but expected Native student enrollment to grow in the coming years.

“It is our hope that more Native students will take a second look at UW–Madison and realize that we are not out of reach,” said Carla Vigue, UW–Madison director of tribal relations. “And I want Native students to know that, once here, we have support and services that can help them thrive and feel a real sense of belonging.”

Why is UW-Madison launching the program?

Native students have historically faced significant challenges in attending and staying in college. They have the lowest college-going rate among any demographic group in the country, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

While seeking feedback on the program from Native students and tribal leaders, Mnookin said she heard from one person who slept in his car while in college. Another couldn’t afford meals. Several shared how they skipped a study abroad or unpaid internship experience for financial reasons.

“That’s why it is so important that we include the full cost of attendance for undergraduates,” Mnookin said in a statement. “We are setting these students up for success academically but also, just as importantly, the program means that Native students will have full access to all that UW–Madison offers.”

Has Wisconsin previously tried launching a Native student tuition waiver program earlier?

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers included a provision allowing students from federally recognized tribes to receive in-state tuition in his 2021-23 state budget proposal, but it did not make it through the legislative process.

A similar bipartisan bill in the 2019 session failed to gain traction.

How does the UW-Madison program compare nationally?

Some public universities, including Maine, Montana and Michigan, have offered tuition waiver programs for decades.

Other states have more recently launched programs for Native students, including the University of Minnesota in 2021 and Oregon State University in 2022.

As of last year, 14 states with colleges and universities offered in-state tuition or tuition waiver for Native American students, according to a 2022 UW-Madison report.

Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians and chairwoman of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, said the Wisconsin program stands out from others for covering the full cost of college.

She called it “historic and cycle-breaking.”

What else has UW-Madison done for Native students?

Native communities have a complicated relationship with land-grant universities.

The U.S. government in 1832 demanded the Ho-Chunk Nation surrender a huge territory, including the land where UW-Madison sits. The Ho-Chunk had lived in the area for some 12,000 years before the treaty.

In addition, President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 signed the Morrill Act, which gave states public land on the condition the land be sold or used for profit and the proceeds be used to establish at least one agricultural college. Wisconsin received 235,530 acres under the legislation.

High Country News, a media outlet that covers the American West, drew attention to this arrangement in 2020, reporting on how land taken from tribal nations was turned into a source of funding for 52 land-grant universities, including UW-Madison.

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