At the Legislature, the University of Minnesota is requesting $9 million dollars to fund the American Indian Scholars Program. The funding would cover Native American students’ tuition, fees and support services on all University campuses. Since 31.6% of Morris’s student body is Native, it poses an uncomfortable question: Does greater access to higher education for Native American students at other campuses advance Morris’s enrollment problem?

Here’s my take as a student and soon-to-be alum of UMN-Morris: If the Scholars Program is implemented, Morris will continue to be a leader in offering a rich, unique Native American history, robust Native student support system and beautifully vibrant Native campus life. Morris was not the only college to offer me a generous financial aid package, but it was certainly the only one to offer me those amenities. And I could never imagine choosing anywhere else. As colleges expand financial assistance programs for Native students, I hope we remember Morris has a lot more to offer Native students than a tuition waiver.

It was inevitable Morris would have to ask this question one day. It’s been a century since Morris’s tuition waiver was mandated and other colleges are just now catching up to our standard. It’s tough to be ahead of the times because eventually, the times catch up. We saw a sneak preview of this conversation in November 2021 when the University announced the Native American Promise Program. Although it was heralded by the press as an expansion of the Morris tuition waiver, only 18 students benefited from the program, according to the Star Tribune. But it was still enough to put Morris on defense. Acting Chancellor Janet Schrunk Ericksen wrote in her February 2022 Friday message:

“We welcome any increase in support of Native American and Indigenous students. At the same time, I remind you in this season when high school seniors are making their college decisions, that the Morris tuition waiver is more inclusive than the NA Promise program and that UMN Morris has built a strong support system for its Native American students. As other colleges and universities make similar moves to increase access for Native Americans, we continue to be proud of the distinctive offerings at Morris.”

Morris students also responded to the Promise Program. We passed a resolution in the Student Senate in February 2022 that told President Joan Gabel the Promise Program was inadequate and the tuition waiver on our campus should be expanded to all campuses.

Staff and faculty privately expressed concern about how the Promise Program would impact enrollment. My response to those concerns at the time remains the same in light of the Scholars program. It matters to Native high school seniors and their families that a college has spent decades building a foundation for them. Morris has that while other campuses do not.

Unlike the Promise Program, the Scholars Program is far more inclusive. The Scholars Program covers Minnesota residents who are enrolled members of any federally-recognized U.S. or Canadian tribe as well as non-residents enrolled in Minnesota tribal nations. These requirements are far more inclusive than the Promise Program, which included many financial, academic and location-based stipulations. Since the Scholars program would offer greater inclusivity, the question of how this affects the Morris campus becomes far more salient than ever.

The Scholars Program has an obvious benefit for Native American students and tribes. Those who want to study specialized fields, such as business and medicine, will have the opportunity to consider other University campuses without worrying about the costs. For Morris, we have an opportunity to communicate our institution’s value to tribal communities beyond the waiver. I am confident there will still be plenty of Native students who choose to pursue a public liberal arts education in a friendly and welcoming campus community.

Let’s imagine I am incorrect. Let’s imagine the Scholars Program becomes law and the Twin Cities campus siphons Native students who would have chosen Morris otherwise, thus setting us even further back from our institutional enrollment goals … Is that a terrible thing?

I ask that as the only person in my family to receive an elite education for a miraculously low cost. Not just the opportunity to learn – but the opportunity to explore, to find love and to lead. I hope students like me will always have the opportunities offered at Morris. It’s been a transformative experience I would not have gotten in the big city. But, if greater access to higher education, and greater prosperity for tribal nations is the nail in our coffin, maybe it would be a worthy sacrifice. In fact, maybe it’s an inevitable outcome for a college built on an Indian boarding school gravesite. Of course, I’m skeptical that would be the case.

Dylan Young is a senior at the University of Minnesota-Morris and a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who served as the president of the Morris Campus Student Association from December 2021 to April 2023.