Blackbear

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FROM: THE BUFFALO NEWS NEWSPAPER

_http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051031/1036854.asp_
(http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...31/1036854.asp)

Syracuse U Waives Costs For Iroquois

By STEPHEN T. WATSON
News Staff Reporter

10/31/2005 Syracuse University is offering to cover the full cost of a
college education for members of the six Iroquois Indian nations, including the
Senecas and Tuscaroras in Western New York.

The university is willing to pay for full undergraduate tuition, housing on
campus, a meal plan and any required fees for students who qualify
academically from the six nations, also known as the Haudenosaunee.

Syracuse University officials said the Haudenosaunee Promise Scholarship
Program should benefit dozens of Native American students by removing the
financial obstacles that limit their access to college.

"It's been fantastic. There's been a lot of excitement, from what we've
heard. The admissions office has been getting calls" since the program was
unveiled in August, said Robert Odawi Porter, director of the Center for Indigenous
Law, Governance and Citizenship at Syracuse and former attorney general for
the Senecas.

The university, working with Indian leaders, will spend this school year
developing the precise eligibility criteria and plans to enroll the first
recipients next fall.

American Indians are underrepresented at Syracuse and other colleges.


At Syracuse, for example, only 0.4 percent of the university's 11,786
full-time-equivalent undergraduates were American Indians in 2003-04, according to
the Education Trust.

The Haudenosaunee Promise program is open to Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas,
Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras.

The scholarships will not be limited in number, and Porter said he hopes
about 10 students will enroll in each of the first few years of the program.

Students must qualify for admission to Syracuse and maintain a 2.5 grade
point average.

Porter said he was not aware of any other university that offers American
Indians a full scholarship, including room and board. Tuition alone at Syracuse
is $27,210.
"It would be our hope that [scholarship recipients] would come home and
share some of their knowledge," said Todd M. Waite, director of the Senecas'
education department.

Today, 224 Senecas are enrolled at some level of higher education, a number
that has grown in recent years, Waite added.

e-mail: _swatson@buffnews.com_ (mailto:swatson@buffnews.com)

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