By: Jessica K. Trad, University of Minnesota
This month’s post continues our blog series sharing information about financial aid opportunities for Indigenous students across the United States. We discuss the 13 total funding opportunities available in three Southern states: Arkansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina.
Arkansas: 1 system level funding opportunity.
Louisiana: 1 state level and 1 institutional level scholarship.
North Carolina: 3 state, 1 system, and 6 institutional level opportunities.
Soon, Indigenous students will have access to our publicly available interactive website tool to search for funding opportunities for which they are eligible. For a current list of all funding opportunities we have identified, please refer to our draft dataset. In the meantime, we’re dedicated to sharing insights and resources that can support students, practitioners, and policymakers.
Arkansas
The University of Arkansas system offers one system level funding opportunity, the Waiver of Non-Resident Tuition for Native Americans, allowing Native American students who currently reside in other states but are members of tribes that lived in Arkansas before relocation to be reclassified for in-state tuition and fees. Tribes identified include Caddo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Delaware, Kickapoo, Osage, Quapaw, Shawnee, Tunica, and Peoria.
Students must submit documentation certifying their tribal membership. We encourage students to check with their specific University of Arkansas system campus to determine the specific documentation required and how frequently they must do so. Notably, we noticed the University of Arkansas communicates students should submit their tribal membership card or Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood, but UA Cossatot explicitly excludes CDIB cards as proof of citizenship or membership. UA Cossatot also requires students to reapply each semester, but it is unclear to us why.
Aside from in-state tuition reclassification, we did not find any other funding opportunities for Indigenous students in Arkansas.
Louisiana
We identified two funding opportunities in Louisiana—one state level and one institutional level scholarship.
The Office of Indian Affairs Scholarship is a state level funding opportunity available to Native American students from Louisiana tribes to attend a higher education institution of their choice. This scholarship is competitive in nature, meaning recipients are selected based on information provided in their application, such as demonstrated financial and academic need. Applicants must be in-state residents with membership in a recognized tribe and have completed the FAFSA. A set funding amount is not explicitly stated.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette offers the American Indian Scholarship, an institutional level funding opportunity for freshmen who are citizens of a federally recognized American Indian Tribe. To apply, students must:
- Be a first-time freshman
- Have a 2.75 cumulative GPA on a non-weighted scale
- Be registered as a full-time student
- Be a citizen of a federally recognized American Indian Tribe from any state
- Submit a copy of the Tribal Enrollment Card attached to their application
- Be regularly admitted to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The scholarship covers the cost of tuition and is renewable for up to 8 semesters. It is unclear how many students can receive this scholarship per term.
North Carolina
With 10 total funding opportunities for Indigenous students, North Carolina stands out among other Southern states with little to no funding opportunities. There are three state level funding opportunities, one UNC system wide scholarship, and six institutional level opportunities across four institutions. Here’s a breakdown of these programs and their eligibility requirements.
The Supporting Undergraduate Native Student Program (SUNS) offers three state level funding opportunities to support Native American undergraduate students:
- The SUNS Scholarship helps cover tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment, and uniforms. Tuition funds are available for students without other financial aid or whose aid does not fully cover the total cost of attendance. Reimbursement for materials is possible if receipts are submitted within the same month as the semester’s start.
- The Semester Completion Incentive provides end of semester payments to students who maintain a GPA of 2.0 or higher. Students must submit a transcript or grade report during the same month the semester ends.
- The SUNS Graduation Incentive offers financial support to students upon graduation. To qualify, students must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 and submit verification of their graduation and degree within the same month they graduate.
To qualify for SUNS funding, students must meet income requirements, with total gross household income at or below 125% of federal poverty guidelines. Applicants must also be enrolled members of a North Carolina state-recognized tribe, full-time students (12 credit hours or more) at a North Carolina-based accredited community college or university, and maintain a GPA of 2.0 or higher throughout the program. Additionally, students must attend the Annual Academic Success Workshop.
If a student does not meet the income requirement, they may still qualify as an independent student. Independent students are evaluated solely on their own income and must meet two or more of the following criteria: be 18 years or older, have children or dependents, live separately from parents for seven or more months during the year, or receive less than 50% of financial support from their parents.
The University of North Carolina (UNC) offers the UNC Native American Scholarship, a system-wide scholarship that provides a set amount (i.e., $2,000 at UNC–Charlotte) in renewable funding for eligible students. To qualify, applicants must provide documentation of their membership in a federally or state-recognized tribe, be in-state residents of North Carolina, and be enrolled as undergraduate students either full-time or part-time. Additionally, students must complete the FAFSA and demonstrate financial need, though there are no GPA or standardized test score requirements.
We found six institutional level opportunities at Guilford College (1), University of North Carolina Asheville (1), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2), and University of North Carolina at Pembroke (2). Notably, none cover the full cost of attendance, and several require specific majors that significantly reduce eligibility.
Rather than covering these institutional level opportunities in-depth, we encourage readers to refer to our full list of funding opportunities to learn more.
It is essential to note the currently limited funding opportunities available in this region; out of the 13 total opportunities, only two provide funding that covers the cost of tuition. Further, specific information about many of these funding opportunities was hard to come by. For example, our team learned about the UNC system level funding by speaking directly with staff at UNC–Charlotte whose website was the only one where we initially located the scholarship description.
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:
- 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 email us to let us know!
- Keep an eye out for future snapshots throughout the year. Subscribe to the SSTAR Lab newsletter to have updates sent directly to your inbox!
- 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, information described in this post may change prior to the release of the final dataset.