NPR Complains Trump Budget Cuts Hurt a Kansas College, Turns Out It’s a “Dropout Factory” with a Prior 9% Graduation Rate

It should come as no surprise that National Public Radio has been propagandizing its aging leftist listeners against the Trump budget cuts, highlighting supposed abuses.

One such recent example is a profile of the Women’s Basketball team at Haskell University, a small college for Native Americans in Kansas. The coverage of the controversy complains about an alleged quarter of its staff who are laid off because they are probationary employees of the federal government.

NPR’s coverage of the University highlights its positives, but omits key details and context that would give its readers a better perspective on why these cuts might be in the best interests of taxpayers and even the students involved.

A lawsuit has been filed to force Trump to fund the Indian college. The federal government funds the college as part of an 1884 Indian treaty.

The case is styled as Pueblo of Isleta et. al v. Secretary of the Department of the Interior, et. al, case number 1: 25-cv-00696-AHA  . The student plaintiffs are Ella Bowen, Kaiya Brown, Danielle Ledesma, Victor Organista, and Aiyanna Tanyan. Their attorney is Matthew Lee Campbell of the Native American Rights Fund, out of Boulder, Colorado. Two other attorneys have applied to enter the case Pro Hac Vice: Jacqueline De Leon and Malia Gesuale. The case has been assigned to federal Judge Amir Ali, a 2024 Biden appointee.

The complaint primarily concerns the fact that the various Indian tribes were not consulted prior to the budget cuts.

NPR makes it seem like this is another step in the trail of tears for America’s native population.

“That it would be affected by these executive actions and cuts in budgets, you know, add it to the list of broken promises,” said Bo Schneider, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, to National Public Radio.

The 54 page, 8 count legal complaint, which includes four students as plaintiffs, complains that they aren’t able to make progress towards their degrees.

However, public records and data suggest that few were likely to ever graduate, because the college has such an awful academic record that 9-30% of the students are likely to graduate.

Haskell University stands in stark contrast to other colleges, including some that are in the same Kansas college town.

As well, the actual financial harm to the students is likely to be minor, considering many of the degrees the college is producing are for subjects and subject areas that place even its working graduates in poverty.

Haskell is already in a well-known college town, Lawrence, Kansas, which is home to the University of Kansas. KU has 28,000 students enrolled who are paying $11,700 for in-state tuition. A reported 66% of KU’s students graduate.

Haskell promotes a promising degree in “Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, and Group Studies.” Graduates with this degree, meaning the percentage of enrolled students who graduate and end up working in a job in the field, have a median earning of $24,500.

The tuition at Haskell University is free, paid for by taxpayers, but only if you are Native American Indian or an Alaskan Native of a federally recognized Tribes.

In 2009, the school only had a 9% graduation rate, and was referred to as a “dropout factory.” Today it boasts of a 30% graduation rate.

The University offers four bachelor degrees:

• B.A. Indigenous And American Indian Studies
• B.S. Business Admin
• B.S. Elementary Education
• B.S. Environmental Science

The average early career salary for a graduate with a degree in Indigenous And American Indian Studies is $31,645.

The average U.S. college tuition is $11,610 for in-state residents at state schools, and $43,350 for private schools. The average student loan indebtedness in America is roughly $40,000.

The average college size is 6,354 students, whereas Haskell has 918, from 153 different tribal “nations.”

Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) is a federally operated institution under the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), receives its funding directly from the U.S. federal government as part of its trust responsibilities to Native American tribes. Specific annual funding allocations for HINU are not detailed in the budget of the BIE.

The Bureau of Indian Education oversees educational services for American Indian and Alaska Native students across the United States.In the fiscal year 2025 budget proposal, the BIE is allocated approximately $1.5 billion, reflecting an increase of $119.5 million over the 2024 annualized continuing resolution.

The post NPR Complains Trump Budget Cuts Hurt a Kansas College, Turns Out It’s a “Dropout Factory” with a Prior 9% Graduation Rate appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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