Skip to content

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025

Did the Trump administration propose cutting funding for  tribal colleges by almost 90%?

Tallulah Anne, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
yes

Under the Trump administration’s Fiscal 2026 budget proposal, federal funding for tribal colleges would drop from about $183 million to just $22 million, a nearly 90% reduction.

The cut follows a one-time, $495 million boost in Fiscal 2025 for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). The administration largely redirected that money from other minority-serving institutions, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions, arguing their race-based eligibility rules were discriminatory. 

Arizona has two tribally controlled institutions: Diné College and Tohono O’odham Community College.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

See all fact briefs

The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.