Courtesy of Stacey Montooth
Gov. Steve Sisolak speaks June 4, 2021, at a ceremony to sign an education bill that makes state college tuition free for Native American tribal members living in Nevada.
Friday, June 11, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Gov. Steve Sisolak has gone around the state signing many bills into law in the days after the Nevada legislative session finished late last month.
His signature of Assembly Bill 262 came with a special touch — using a pen with a zigzag cover pattern of tiny yellow and blue beads stitched by Daisy Nuanes, a 28-year-old single mother who is a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe in Northern Nevada.
The bill, which was signed at the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum in Carson City, calls for Nevada System of Higher Education institutions to waive registration and other fees for Native American students who are part of one of 27 tribes in Nevada.
“It’s so amazing. I was so happy when it passed. I couldn’t wait to go home and tell my brother college is free,” Nuanes said.
To qualify, students must have lived in Nevada for at least one year, carry a 2.0 grade point average and demonstrate they are part of the tribe. About 237 native students will qualify for the program, as not all Native Americans residing in the state are enrolled tribe members, said Assemblywoman Natha Anderson, D-Sparks, who sponsored the bill.
It doesn’t cover room and board.
“It’s exciting to see that more kids will be able to go school and not be burdened by some of the things we had to be burdened with as an older generation,” said Pete Rulon, executive director of the Las Vegas Indian Center.
One of those students is Nuanes, who didn’t immediately enroll in college after high school because she joined the workforce to help her family make ends meet. Her story is similar to others in the tribe, who lack the means to afford higher education.
“It’s not something that is normal for our family. Going to college is kind of almost taboo because no one does it,” she said.
When she did enroll at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, she juggled school with two jobs and taking care of her younger brother. Brother Emilio Nuanes graduated from Sparks High School this year and is also eligible for free college tuition.
“I have been really on him about going to college and making it a priority,” Daisy Nuanes said. “I feel like he could really succeed in life, and I want to show him school can be such an awesome thing to do, especially with no kids and no worries.”
She speaks from firsthand experience about balancing life and studies, especially when it comes to paying for college.
Nuanes said she dropped some of her classes and lost financial aid her first year of college. When she enrolled a second time, she got pregnant with her son, who is now 5, and took a break again. She can only afford to take a couple of classes at a time paying tuition out of pocket.
Now, that’s not a concern thanks to the new law.
Daisy wants to get a degree in kinesiology and become a physical therapist. Higher education will also help her gain confidence, she said.
“I’ve always struggled with how I came up and everything I went through. I was almost ashamed of it and didn’t value myself,” she said. “I figure once I acquire the education it will level me up in social circles, get me out of my bubble, my comfort zone.”
Similar laws assist native students in other states that offer reduced or free tuition. The Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver program, for instance, has been helping send native students to college since the 1970s.
“Education was a fundamental right of our treaties that was supposed to be granted to our tribes over a hundred years ago,” Tammi Tiger, an advocate for the Las Vegas Indian Center, said after the bill was signed.
Four Nevada tribal leaders were among the roughly 100 people to attend the ceremony, where one signature — with one special pen — paved the way for native students to attend college.
Stacey Montooth, executive director of the Nevada Indian Commission, ordered the pens for a signing ceremony. Nuanes took great pride in beading the pens.
“When I’m doing these pens, I’m praying and giving all my good hopes and thoughts for students who will benefit from this. I hope this good medicine goes to everybody,” she said.
