Though authorizations call for funding at a level of $6,000 per student for the colleges, appropriations now total only about $3,900 per student.
"We're very concerned. All of our colleges have been the most underfunded higher education institutions in this country," said AIHEC Executive Director Gerald Gipp, a member of the Hunkpapa Lakota tribe.
Indian advocates say support from the federal government is crucial to efforts to lift American Indians out of crushing poverty. As of the most recent census, an estimated 24.5 percent of the American Indian population was living in poverty, more than double the overall U.S. rate.
Haskell has been hit particularly hard. With its reliance almost exclusively on government funding and no specific tribal backing, the college has seen its budget held to minimal annual cost-of-living increases, with little extra for technology improvements, capital expenditures and other needs.
Out-of-date textbooks and computer systems too slow to send e-mail are among the problems, students and faculty say. Summer school was canceled last year because of the financial crunch, and student fee increases are being considered.
In response to AIEHC demands, a Senate task force met last spring to begin exploring funding options, and in July, President Bush signed an executive order recognizing the "significant role" of the tribal colleges and pledging to include them in high-priority education initiatives.
But in his budget for the fiscal year that began in October, President Bush proposed a 5 percent funding cut to the colleges, trimming annual appropriations to $39 million.
Funding levels are still being negotiated on Capitol Hill, and American Indians, who represent only 0.9 percent of the U.S. population and have little political clout, are not optimistic about the outcome.
