Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) — For the second year in a row, federal funding for tribal colleges and universities faces possible slashing. The fiscal year 2027 budget proposal calls for a $1.5 trillion increase to defense spending, resulting in the carving of billions of dollars out of programs that fulfill trust and treaty responsibilities to tribal nations. Those cuts include entirely eliminating funding for the Institute for American Indian Arts, the country’s only federally funded college for contemporary Native American arts. The budget proposal released last week also calls for cutting funding for TCUs, as well as funding for two schools, one of which is the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico.
