'An aspirational goal': U of L lowers fees for Indigenous students

To make higher education an easier step to take for Indigenous students, the University of Lethbridge is dropping some fees for those applicants.

The school says the move is aimed at removing barriers and will take place immediately for all graduate and undergraduate self-declared Canadian Indigenous students.

"Too often we hear of potential students who are wanting to apply but must decide whether they take that chance and spend the money not knowing they will qualify or use that money for necessities in their life," said Iikaisskini (Low Horn) Dr. Leroy Little Bear, vice-provost of Iniskim Indigenous relations in a news release.

"We cannot let that be a barrier for what could be a life-changing opportunity."

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The school says the application fees for graduate students are $125 while undergraduate students pay $140 to apply.

In addition to that change, the university is lowering fees for a group of Indigenous students south of the border that often come to learn in Lethbridge.

Self-identified members of Aamskapi Pikuni, the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, are now eligible to study at the University of Lethbridge by paying domestic tuition fees instead of international rates.

Those students would save $1,581.23 per course under the new fee structure, officials said.

"It is an aspirational goal, and we believe it is also a very achievable goal," said Naamoipiiksi (Hummingbird) Shanda Webber (BA ’05), director of Iniskim Indigenous relations.

"These new changes will help us create more pathways for Indigenous student success."

Little Bear says because there is no U.S.-Canada border on the lands of the Sisksikaitsitapi, this change "opens the door" to Blackfeet students in Montana.

Currently, Indigenous students represent six per cent of total enrolment at the University of Lethbridge.

The changes, made under its strategic enrolment management plan, aim to shift that enrolment level to 10 per cent of the total student population by 2026.