This July, Montana will widen eligibility for an American Indian tuition waiver used through the Montana University System, a shift officials say is designed to make college costs more manageable for more Native students while also navigating federal civil-rights scrutiny. Under the updated criteria, which take effect July 1, students still must show financial need and be Montana residents, but the waiver will no longer require blood quantum and will expand eligibility to include unenrolled “descendants.”
The waiver has long been a state program aimed at encouraging eligible Native American students to pursue higher education by covering tuition costs. OCHE, the administrative arm of the Montana Board of Regents, said about 800 Native students receive the funding each year, at a cost of about $3.8 million to the state. Before the upcoming change, eligibility required being a member of a federally recognized tribe in Montana or documenting at least one-quarter “Indian blood,” along with financial need and Montana residency.
In July 2025, the Board of Regents approved two changes to the waiver. OCHE’s own leadership tied the move to pressure from a January 2025 executive order issued by President Donald Trump that called on institutions to “end illegal (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) discrimination and preferences” and directed the Education Department to issue guidance for higher education institutions receiving federal funds. Galen Hollenbaugh, OCHE’s deputy commissioner for government relations and communications, later told lawmakers that the Board of Regents adopted the waiver revisions “in reaction” to that order.
Hollenbaugh described the federal follow-up as contributing to concern about whether the waiver could be vulnerable under civil-rights enforcement. He said the executive order was followed by a February “Dear Colleague” letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, warning that schools “have routinely used race as a factor” in admissions, financial aid, hiring and other programming and warning that discrimination “on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.” The letter also said institutions that fail to comply with federal civil-rights law could face potential loss of federal funding.
During a December 2025 meeting of the Legislature’s State Tribal Relations Interim Committee, Hollenbaugh said the administration’s concern focused on the waiver’s blood-quantum requirement, which he described as a source of “racially discriminatory” risk. He told lawmakers the board was “very concerned” the blood quantum requirement could be the racially discriminatory possibility “that might put the waiver in jeopardy,” and he characterized the timing pressure as “pretty imminent” given the legal concerns. It’s that explanation—tribal leaders and lawmakers later said—that some see as the basis for objections, even as expanded access could benefit Native communities.
When it comes to what has changed, the waiver’s new eligibility approach replaces the former ancestry-based threshold with a broader path tied to tribal enrollment. “Blood quantum,” a concept rooted in assimilation tactics, refers to the fractional amount of tribal affiliation in an individual’s ancestry, and most tribes nationwide use it to determine eligibility for tribal citizenship. OCHE described the shift by pairing the removal of the blood-quantum requirement with an expanded definition of “descendant,” which typically refers to someone related to an enrolled tribal member; different tribes define descendants through enrollment relationships using parent or grandparent enrollment or through broader tracing to earlier enrolled lists.
OCHE Director Angela McLean said her office believes the changes will expand eligibility opportunities for students. McLean also told Montana Free Press that educational institutions will not receive additional state funding to cover expanded waiver eligibility. She wrote that campuses would instead have to cover any additional costs through “reallocation of other portions of campus budgets,” and she said OCHE communicated with financial aid officers to “make sure that they accept a broad spectrum of documentation” related to descendant status, with tribes determining what documentation they provide to descendants.
McLean said students who are already participating in the waiver program before the July change will continue to receive the waiver through the completion of their current degree. At the same time, several lawmakers questioned whether tribes were consulted before the policy was revised. State Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, asked Hollenbaugh whether the Board of Regents consulted tribes before enacting the change, arguing that “Whenever there is major policy that affects tribes, the tribes need to know ahead of time,” and adding, “If that was not the case in this, then I’ve got issues with that.”
Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, said he had drafted a bill in the 2025 legislative session that would have enacted similar waiver changes, but he withdrew it after becoming concerned about how “controversial” it could become within tribal communities. A fiscal analysis of Running Wolf’s bill estimated that if descendants of Montana tribes had been eligible for the waiver in fall of 2024, the program would have covered tuition for about 1,373 new students and would have cost the state $5.5 million in 2027, $5.7 million in 2028 and almost $6 million in 2029, accounting for population growth.
Running Wolf told Montana Free Press that he has “mixed feelings” about what the Board of Regents enacted. While he said he hopes the modified criteria will expand access to education for Native students, he said he wishes tribes had been consulted before the changes. He said, “I’m not saying I have the answer,” and said he “don’t know what the final verdict was going to be after consulting with tribes and university students about what they felt they needed. We never got there. We were never able to get there.”
At the same committee discussion, Hollenbaugh repeatedly said the intention of the change was to “ensure the long-term stability of the waiver” amid concern that the previous blood-quantum requirement might be jeopardized by federal civil-rights enforcement. The story also noted that in August, a U.S. District Judge in Maryland found the Education Department broke the law when it threatened to withhold federal funds from educational institutions that incorporated DEI initiatives.
Some higher-ed officials said the practical effect of the policy change could still mean relief for students. James Broscheit, director of Montana State University’s Office of Financial Aid Services, said inquiries about financial aid were beginning and that he had already received questions from several students about the new eligibility requirements. He said the previous blood quantum requirements had been challenging for some students to meet, particularly if they didn’t know how to find documentation, and he said, “Ideally, this creates a little bit of an easier path for students.”
Other tribal representatives said expanded eligibility could reduce stress for families. Miranda Burland, scholarship officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said she was excited for students who would be newly eligible for the waiver, saying, “I think when students know there’s more opportunities for funding, it’s almost like you can see a little relief,” and that “Financially, it opens the door for so many people.”
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.