The 2024 Kansas Legislature has enacted a provision to allow certain students enrolling at a public institution of higher education in Kansas to have residency status for the sole purpose of paying tuition. The provision does not make students eligible for financial aid programs directed to Kansas resident students. This provision will be in place from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 with anticipated annual renewal through the Legislature. It is found in Section 116(f) of 2024 Senate Bill 28.
Students
Students who are enrolled as a member of the following Nations are eligible for residency status for tuition payment at Kansas public institutions of higher education, regardless of the location of their residence:
The Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas;
The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation;
The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska;
The Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, or
The following federally recognized Indigenous Nations with historical connections to Kansas territories with one or more of the following references within the Tribe’s name:
Apache;
Arapaho;
Caddo;
Cheyenne;
Cherokee;
Chickasaw;
Chippewa and Ojibwe (including Bay Mills);
Choctaw;
Comanche;
Delaware;
Iowa (Ioway and Baxoje);
Kaw (Kanza);
Kickapoo;
Kiowa;
Miami;
Missouria (including Otoe-Missouria);
Modoc;
Muscogee (Creek, including Yuchi, Euchee or Uchee);
Nez Perce,
Omaha;
Oneida;
Osage;
Otoe;
Ottawa (Odawa);
Potawatomi (Pottawatomi);
Pawnee;
Peoria;
Ponca;
Pueblo;
Quapaw;
Sac and Fox (including Meskwaki);
Seminole;
Seneca-Cayuga;
Shawnee;
Stockbridge-Munsee (Mohican);
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie)
Wyandotte
Institutions
Each public institution of higher education in Kansas is directed by the Legislature to consider the Indigenous American students noted above as Kansas residents for the purpose of tuition payment.
As this is relatively new policy, it is anticipated that the list of Nations with historic ties to Kansas will need ongoing refinement. If you are a Native Nation with historic ties to the Kansas land base, please contact Elaine Frisbie with the Kansas Board of Regents with your information and accompanying documentation articulating your Nation’s history in Kansas by email at efrisbie@ksbor.org.
HANDOUT Indigenous American Students Residency Status for Tuition 2024-2025