Three Years in, Oregon’s Historic Investment in the Oregon Tribal Student Grant is Changing Lives
The grant is already supporting student success for hundreds of students, and the application is open for 2025-26
Salem, OR – The Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) is pleased to report growing participation in the Oregon Tribal Student Grant (OTSG) since the historic launch of this new state program three years ago. First launched in 2022, the Tribal Grant is opening doors to postsecondary degrees and certificates for hundreds of students from Oregon’s nine federally recognized Tribes, and there have been more applicants each year. In the first two years alone, 215 grantees earned credentials at community colleges and public universities. The application is open for 2025-26 and tribal students are encouraged to learn about eligibility and apply.
The Oregon Tribal Student Grant pays for most or all public college-related expenses—including tuition, housing, books, and other costs not covered by other grants—for eligible students who are enrolled members of Oregon’s nine federally recognized Tribes. Among state financial aid programs, the OTSG is unique in its flexibility—it can cover total college costs at a time when the financial strain of housing and living expenses can be as much of a barrier as tuition. The OTSG can be applied toward undergraduate or graduate study at Oregon’s 24 public colleges and universities as well as eligible Oregon private non-profit institutions, where awards can go up to the allowable maximum amount at a public university. The grant is available to students at all levels, including those who just graduated from high school or earned their GED® and adults wanting to start or return to college.
In the program’s first three years, the HECC Office of Student Access and Completion has seen applications and awards steadily increase. The agency has awarded 616 grants so far in 2024-25, compared to 501 in 2023-24 and 412 in 2022-23. The applications have also grown since 2022 from 917 to 1,052. In addition to the credentials earned so far, HECC analysis is showing that university students with the OTSG are more likely to return after their first year than students without the grant.
The program is funded at $24 million for the current two-year budget cycle. With increased demand for the program, Governor Tina Kotek has recommended a $2.5 million increase in program funding for the upcoming 2025-27 biennium.
Ben Cannon, executive director of the HECC, says, “The Oregon Tribal Student Grant is a game-changer. By filling the entire college funding gap, including estimated living costs, Oregon is leading the nation in providing support for tribal college students. Every student who succeeds in their college and career goals also helps their families and communities thrive. We are thankful to our tribal partners for working closely with us on this incredibly impactful program.”
Stories of the Tribal Grant's Impact
In its first three years, the OTSG has been awarded to tribal students from all nine federally recognized Tribes in Oregon: Burns Paiute Tribe, Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Coquille Indian Tribe, Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and Klamath Tribes.
Melissa Palanuk, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde education and career coach, says, “This grant is doing great work for our people. They are able to see a path to earning an associate, bachelor’s or master’s respectively. Lots of adults are starting school for the first time, or returning to school to finish degrees they started five to fifteen years ago. One student who had dreamed of becoming a welder was able to start at Portland Community College because of this grant. I speak for all my students when I say that this grant is life-changing and is opening doors they didn’t think were possible.”
Molly Hockema, higher education coordinator for the Coquille Indian Tribe, says, “Because of the grant, people are thinking ‘maybe I’ll give it a try.’ We’re seeing people considering going to college or going back to college who never thought it was an option for them. We have students straight out of high school but also older students going back. I've had people coming in that maybe have had a really hard job their whole life—and their bodies are, you know, broken down—but they're thinking, ‘I can afford to go get a different degree and get different work.’ It’s just life-changing.”
The largest percentage of recipients are first-year college students, but the grant also serves students throughout their path toward undergraduate and graduate degrees, including students pursuing certificates, associate degrees, bachelor’s, master’s, PhDs, MDs and JDs. OTSG recipient Jacob Olson, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, says, “Getting the grant was the real reason I kept going.” He adds, “It was definitely life-changing. It was a change from having to grasp my head around $50,000-60,000 in student loans by the time I graduated to not having to take any more student loans. It opened the door to be able to go to a four-year university.”
A student in construction engineering management at Oregon State University, Jacob’s goal is to work as a construction project manager or field engineer in Oregon after completing his degrees, and eventually to run his own company. Before receiving the grant, Jacob considered stopping out of college because of the amount of student loan debt he expected to have to take on. Receiving the OTSG drastically reduced his expected debt load, allowing him to persist in his bachelor’s degree, and now he plans to pursue a graduate degree as well. Read more about Jacob’s story.
Alexa Burgess, an OTSG recipient and a recent Southern Oregon University (SOU) graduate, has a job at Lithia Driveway Finance and business ideas bubbling for the future. With a bachelor’s degree in business administration, an interest in management, and people skills, she hopes to continue to grow in her job and to one day own her own business. A member of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, Alexa received the OTSG during her junior and senior years at SOU, which made it possible for her pursue her bachelor’s degree and gave her time to focus on the upper division coursework, skills and knowledge for her business career. Alexa says, “I was able to say OK, I can focus on my schooling, get that done and find the job that I want. ... And thanks to the Tribal Grant, I don't have college debt, so I'm able to kind of jump-start my life.” Read more about Alexa’s story.
A returning adult student who is active in his tribal community, Mark Petrie used the OTSG to earn his degree in social work with a focus on indigenous cultural knowledge in social services. A member of Hanis Coos, one of the tribes of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, Mark has already devoted years to tribal community work, and he is excited to expand his career in this area. With the help of the OTSG, Mark recently graduated with a bachelor’s from Portland State University, and he says the fact that the grant supported him in a fully online program was especially helpful as it allowed him to be present at home in Coos Bay with wife and children. With his degree, Mark hopes to embed indigenous cultural knowledge into social work and health work in new ways, and to focus on meaningful connections and evidence-based health practices. Mark previously worked with his Tribe’s cultural, health, and youth programs, and he also served as an elected leader on the Tribal Council. He says, “My degrees are helping me be a better advocate for and supporter of indigenous cultural ways of healing within the [tribal] community and wider community.” Read more about Mark’s story.
Jaylin (aka Jay) Hardin, a member of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, has the freedom to be involved in campus activities, clubs, sports, and more in the Western Oregon University campus community while she is working toward her degree and dream to become a teacher. Receiving the OTSG removed financial stress, allowing Jaylin to focus her time and energy on campus activities that are relevant to her interests. While completing a degree in early childhood and elementary education, she also plays in the WOU rugby club, coordinates events for the Native and Indigenous Cultures Club, writes for the campus paper The Western Howl, and works in the Childhood Development Center. Jaylin’s extensive involvement on campus this year, and its benefits to her and the campus community, likely would not be possible without the OTSG. She says the grant is “changing my life and making it so much easier and making it to where I can be involved in my campus life and I can be part of my campus culture.” Read more about Jaylin’s story.
In recognition and respect of the sovereignty of Oregon’s nine federally recognized Tribes, the State of Oregon works with tribal leaders through a Government to Government process. The Oregon Tribal Student Grant was developed in close and extensive consultation with education and tribal government leaders through this intergovernmental process. In 2022, the State first launched the Oregon Tribal Student Grant for 2022-23 with one year of funding, after being proposed by Governor Kate Brown in consultation with HECC and tribal government leadership. The program was permanently funded and codified in Oregon law in 2023, with legislation proposed by the HECC and approved by the Oregon Legislature and Governor Kotek. The HECC Office of Student Access and Completion administers the grant and works in close partnership with the Tribes to inform communities of this opportunity.
Molly Hockema from the Coquille Indian Tribe adds, “Our membership is all across the US. We are having people come from out of state coming home to their ancestral homelands so they can go to school in Oregon and receive the grant. They are returning to their homeland, accessing their culture. It's really beautiful.”
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