By: Cherish Golden
Over the last year, the SSTAR Lab has been taking an inventory of all financial aid opportunities available to Indigenous students at the state-, system-, and postsecondary institution-level. Why? Because there is currently not a comprehensive and reliable resource for Indigenous students and other stakeholders to find reliable, easy to digest information on scholarships and grants across the United States.
Our project will allow us to release a research database of funding opportunities for Indigenous students in early 2025. More importantly, we will create a publicly-available interactive website tool where Indigenous students can search for funding opportunities they are eligible for!
In the meantime, we want to share information we think can help students, practitioners, and policymakers.
In this post, we share what we’ve found in six Midwest states—a total of 37 institutional-level funding opportunities are available to Indigenous students across Illinois (4), Kansas (6), Missouri (1), Nebraska (6), Ohio (2) and South Dakota (18).
Illinois currently has three institutions with financial aid opportunities for Indigenous students.
University of Illinois Chicago offers the Tribal Nation Tuition Award, a four-year grant equivalent to the cost of in-state tuition, for first-year and transfer students who are members of any of the 574 tribes federally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers the Tribal Nations Scholarship, a scholarship available to both undergraduate and graduate students who are members of any of the 574 federally recognized tribes. This scholarship is only available to students who are not residents of Illinois and covers the difference between in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition. This scholarship is renewable for four years for first-year students, three years for transfer students, and estimated time to completion for graduate students.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale offers two scholarships: the American Indian Scholarship and the Native American Fund Scholarship. The American Indian Scholarship is available to both undergraduate and graduate students who have Indigenous ancestry. Interested students may apply by February 1 to be considered for the scholarship worth up to $1,000 that may be applied to a summer or fall semester. Students must provide proof of Indigenous ancestry through documentation such as a Tribal Membership card, Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (a potentially controversial measurement of Indigenous identity), or a certified letter from the Tribe or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that confirms descent from a recognized Tribe. The Native American Fund Scholarship is available to students who identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native.
Four institutions in Kansas offer financial aid opportunities for Indigenous students.
Benedictine College offers the Saint Kateri Tekawitha and Saint Marianne Cope Scholarship, which is an endowed scholarship. Students interested in this scholarship should contact the Office of Financial Aid at finaid@benedictine.edu for more information.
Coffeyville Community College, a 2-year college, provides the Native American Leadership Program Scholarship to students who are members of federally recognized tribes. This scholarship covers tuition and a loan for books at the main campus or funds for technical program expenses.
Emporia State University (ESU) offers the ESU Advancing Indigenous Presence Scholarship. This scholarship was established in 2022 and provides support for full-time, degree-seeking Indigenous students at ESU. Incoming and current students who complete the Emporia State General Scholarship Application are automatically considered for all institutional scholarships if qualifications are met.
Ottawa University, a private Baptist university, has three campuses that offer the same scholarship to eligible students: the Ottawa Indian Award. This award is available at Ottawa’s main campus in Ottawa, the campus in Kansas City, and their online branch. The Ottawa Indian Award covers full tuition and room and board fees if the student is living on campus or a reduced meal plan rate if the student is living off campus. It is available to students who are documented members of the Ottawa tribe of Oklahoma.
Only one institution in Missouri offers an Indigenous student specific scholarship.
The University of Missouri (Mizzou) provides the Dorothy Blatchford Memorial Scholarship to eligible students. This fund was established in 1984 to honor the legacy of Dorothy Blatchford, who helped to have the first pow-wow at the college. This scholarship, worth up to $2,000 a year and renewable for four years, is open to students of Native American descent who provide proof of ancestry through documented tribal membership or a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB).
Academic requirements to be considered for the scholarship include having a minimum ACT score of 28 or a minimum SAT score of 1300, as well as being admitted to the MU Honors College. These requirements have potential equity implications as they narrow eligibility to “high-achieving” students, despite decades of research showing standardized tests often do not truly capture the academic achievement and potential of all students.
Nebraska currently has four institutions that offer institutional-level financial aid to Indigenous students.
Creighton University provides the Native American Merit Scholarship, which is worth up to $32,000, covering partial tuition costs. Students must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), show proof of tribal enrollment, have a minimum high school GPA of 3.30 on a 4.00 scale at the time of admission, and be a first-generation college student and Pell Grant eligible. This scholarship is renewable upon the student maintaining a college GPA of 2.75 or above and filing the FAFSA each year.
Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC), a 2-year college, offers the High School Graduate Success Scholarship. This award is available to any high school graduate who has tribal enrollment or provide proof of descendancy, or is a Nebraska resident. Students must enroll at NICC within 9 months of their high school graduation or completion of the final general education diploma to receive this scholarship. It is renewable as long as the student is enrolled in a degree-seeking program at NICC and maintains a minimum college GPA of 2.00.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln has three Indigenous financial aid opportunities for students: the Native American Heritage Tuition Scholarship, the Transfer Tribal College Tuition Scholarship, and in-state tuition eligibility for out-of-state students. The in-state tuition eligibility policy applies to students who are enrolled members of the 24 federal tribes with past and current ties to the state of Nebraska:
Arapaho, Arikara, Comanche, Crow, Dakota Sioux, Hidatsa, Iowa, Jicarilla Apache, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Lakota Sioux, Mandan, Missouria, Nakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, Omaha, Otoe, Pawnee, Ponca, Potawatomie, Sac and Fox, Santee Sioux, Southern Cheyenne, Winnebago
Wayne State College offers the Native American Community College Tuition Award. This award is for students who have graduated from a Nebraska Native American Community College (NACC) and are planning to transfer to Wayne State College.
Ohio has two institutions that offer institutional financial aid opportunities for Indigenous students.
Miami University-Oxford has the Myaamia Heritage Award Program for students who are enrolled in the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma or members of the Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana, Inc. This four-year program provides financial, academic, and personal support.
Wright State University offers the Native American Student Scholarship for students with a minimum GPA of 2.50.
South Dakota has the most institutional-level Indigenous financial aid opportunities of the six states covered in this blog, with 18 total across 5 institutions.
With South Dakota having the highest number of reservations (9) and Native American population of the states reflected in this blog, as well as having two tribal colleges, it is not surprising there are ample options for students.
Oglala Lakota College (a tribal college), offers the most institutional-level financial aid in South Dakota in South Dakota, with eight active scholarships. While seven scholarships require proof of Indigenous affiliation, the Richtmyer Scholarship only requires students show proof of creative skills in Native American arts and crafts.
Black Hills State University has six scholarships with academic-based requirements academics, with the main criteria being pursuing a specific major or maintaining a certain GPA.
South Dakota State University currently has the Wokini Scholarship for undergraduate students and the Graduate Student Wokini Scholarship for graduate students. Undergraduate students pursue an Associate’s degree or Bachelor’s degree, while graduate students pursue degrees beyond a Bachelor’s (i.e., master’s, doctoral, professional).
Sinte Gleska University (a tribal college), offers the TOKATAKIYA (“In the Future”) Scholarship, available to any graduating high school or GED student. This award covers full-tuition for two semesters. Students must be enrolled in 12 credit hours (usually four classes) and maintain a college GPA of 2.00 minimum.
The University of South Dakota has the Glenn E. & Barbara R. Ullyot Lakota Scholarship, worth up to $5,000 per year, to students who are enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe. Students who complete the online scholarship application are given first consideration. Finalists for the scholarship are interviewed, and recipients must maintain a college GPA of 2.50 and be enrolled full-time.
For easier browsing of what’s available at each of these South Dakota institutions, please refer to our draft dataset of currently identified financial aid opportunities for Indigenous students.
Call to action: Three ways you can support our project
As we await the release of our publicly available website tool for students, there’s three ways you can stay involved:
- Read more about our project methodology and overall findings here.
- Access our draft dataset of currently identified financial aid opportunities for Indigenous students. If you see a financial aid opportunity that is no longer active, or if you are aware of any opportunities we did not include in our list, please let us know!
- Keep an eye out for future snapshots throughout the year. Share our posts with your networks, especially students who may be eligible for funding opportunities.
Please feel free to reach out to our project manager, Misti Jeffers (misti.jeffers@wisc.edu), if you have any questions on the project!
*Please note, as we continue to reach out to administrators directly to verify our understanding of these financial aid policies and programs, the counts described in this initial post may change prior to the release of the final dataset.