Tribal colleges and universities have endured decades of chronic underfunding, relying heavily on federal support to stay afloat.

Now the Trump administration's broad cuts to federal programs are hitting Indian country hard and posing a serious threat to the future of these vital institutions.

Stephanie Syre reports for our series, Rethinking College.

Ella Bowen was midway through freshman year at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence,

Kansas, when her academic world was turned upside down.

Absolutely nobody knew it was coming. This is something I never thought would happen,

just because this is like our education.

And I thought if anything that the government is supposed to protect our education and not, you know, cause harm to it. This semester, I'm going to be taking math for elementary and middle school teachers.

Nearly 800 miles away in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kaya Brown was having a similarly surreal day

at SIPI, the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.

There was so much misinformation at the time.

There was so much chaos.

I can't explain it and emphasize it anymore.

It was just chaos.

But people were just gone from campus.

Like I came into class, the cubicles were empty, people that I usually say good morning to, their offices were off, like empty, lights off, everything.

On February 14th, the Trump administration's wave of federal job cuts arrived on SIPI's campus without warning, wiping out nearly a

quarter of the staff. For this small tribal college already chronically and visibly

under-resourced, the day was described as traumatic. There was so much that had to be done,

but no one to do it. And there were students that did not know if SIPI was even open anymore.

There was questions if the school even existed anymore. Teachers weren't the only ones affected.

Ella Bowen says other school support staff were fired. Being left without maintenance, custodial, and arrays, everything was super messy and almost unsafe.

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