Despite efforts to increase funding for tribal college agricultural programs, both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate have agreed to maintain the previous year’s funding levels. The funding is part of the Department of Agriculture appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 1998. The 29 tribal college land grant institutions will receive a total of $4.6 million for endowments, $1.45 million for equity grants, and $2 million for extension programs.

An effort on the Senate floor to increase funding for extension activities at the tribal colleges fell short by two votes. Ultimately, the extension grants were funded at $3 million less than the authorized level.

Tribal college presidents of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) had testified for increased funding. Seventy-five per cent of the acreage on reservations is agricultural, and 15 percent is forested. Through the land grant programs, the tribal colleges can help ensure access to new and evolving technologies for managing that land. Although increased funding was the goal, the tribal colleges were fortunate to receive level funding because Congress reduced funding for several other extension and education programs, according to Carrie Billy, AIHEC federal relations counsel.

A Civil Rights Report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February 1997 may help with next year’s efforts, Billy says. The report called for determining whether funding and support for the 1994 land-grant institutions is “equitable.” Billy hopes this will lead the administration to call for full funding of the full range of land grant programs, including research, education, and extension programs as well as facilities construction and maintenance.

Congress designated the tribal colleges as land grant institutions in 1994. They joined the other land grant institutions, which were designated by Congress starting in 1862.