A new report from the American Indian College Fund and the Brookings Institution finds tribal colleges and universities are delivering strong returns for their communities but inconsistent federal and philanthropic funding makes it harder for the schools to plan for long-term success.

The report said federal funding for tribal campuses fell more than 7% over the past decade, while philanthropic giving remains limited and unpredictable.

Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, said in general, the findings showed significant evidence of chronic underfunding by the federal government, despite trust and treaty obligations. She noted there are lost opportunities for Native communities to work past historical inequities.

"You can't really have this self-determination in the Native community without being a culturally grounded, well-educated person," Crazy Bull explained.

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The report showed investment into Indian Country can benefit both Native and non-Native Americans, with every dollar toward tribal colleges and universities returning $1.60 in tax revenue and public sector savings.

The findings come as confidence in higher education is declining nationally. A 2026 Gallup-Lumina survey found just 38% of Americans have a great deal of confidence in higher education, down from 42% last year.

Leander McDonald, president of United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, said postsecondary opportunities at campuses near American Indian reservations remain essential pathways to workforce stability.

"There's only so many jobs within a small tribal community," McDonald pointed out. "With our training programs, we've saturated those markets for the most part, so students are going to have to go off the reservation in order to obtain those jobs. So the workforce needs of North Dakota are being addressed from the work that we're doing."

McDonald added the school contributes to the local economy through its roughly 200 employees and is part of a broader network of tribal colleges working directly with employers and tribal leaders to identify skills communities need.

Rob Maxim, tribal economics fellow at The Brookings Institution and co-author of the report, said the federal government does not provide enough detailed information about how much money is actually reaching tribal communities, making it harder for Native-serving institutions to determine where the biggest unmet needs remain.

"It is really hard for tribal leaders themselves, for Native-serving institutions to make decisions based on the lack of data that's out there," Maxim explained.

Both Maxim and McDonald said improving data access is paramount to better tracking community contributions and federal investment over time, and to develop a more robust estimate of existing gaps in Indian Country.

They stressed greater use of mandatory federal funding is needed to help campus leaders adequately support their communities and plan with more certainty.