Colorado May Cut Aid for Native American Students

Colorado legislators are proposing that limits be set on payments that have allowed Native American students to attend Fort Lewis College tuition-free, the Associated Press reported. The tuition waiver arises out of a 1911 treaty in which tribes agreed to give up land in return for a series of pledges, including one that the state create a college that Native American students could attend without paying. Advocates for curbing the program note that no limits were placed on it, so that out-of-state students or those with no connections to the tribes that gave up the land can still benefit. Others, however, say that the state should not go back on a rare example of an entity in the United States actually keeping a treaty provision pledged to Native Americans.