Tribal members testify in support of state grant program

By Katherine Warren and Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff

Three Grand Ronde Tribal members joined six other students and educators Wednesday, April 9, at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem to testify in favor of renewing the Oregon Tribal Student Grant.

Senate Bill 5525 allocates $28.5 million -- a $2.5 million increase -- for the grant program, which provide funds for Oregon Tribal undergraduate and graduate students attending higher education institutions in the state.

Tribal members Justin Fasana and Darien Leno, both of whom have received the grant, testified to the committee, along with Leno’s younger sister, Bayleigh Leno, who attends school in Willamina and is hoping to attend college.

Fasana, who works as a forester in the Tribe’s Natural Resources Department, said the grant is crucial to him and other Tribal students.

Darien Leno, a firefighter with the Tribe’s Emergency Services Department, told the committee that “I don’t know how I would have made ends meet” without the grant.

“It’s making my dreams come true of having my college degree,” Leno said.

No one testified in opposition to the grant, which is unique in its flexibility, as it pays not only for college tuition, but for associated costs such as childcare, transportation, housing, books and other costs not covered by other grants.

It was first approved by the Oregon Legislature in 2022 and there have been 616 grants awarded so far this year, compared with 412 when the program began.

Tribal Education and Career Coach Melissa Palanuk said 261 Tribal members have applied for the grant in the 2024-25 academic year, a number she expects to see continue to grow.

Part of Palanuk’s job is helping students fill out the application. Students interested in applying for the 2025-26 academic year may contact her at 503-879-1345 or email melissa.palanuk@grandronde.org.

There are no income or residence requirements for the grant, but only enrolled Oregon Tribal members attending Oregon colleges are eligible, she said. Palanuk said the Oregon Tribal Grant is designed to help students succeed and that if a student has a bad term or terms, they are not required to pay back the grant.

In a Monday, April 21 press release about the grant, Palanuk said that it was doing “great work for our people.”

“They are able to see a path to earning an associate, bachelor’s or master’s respectively,” she said. “Lots of adults are starting school for the first time or returning to school to finish degrees they started five to 15 years ago. One student who had dreamed of becoming a welder was able to start at Portland Community College because of this grant. I speak for all my students when I say that this grant is life-changing and is opening doors they didn’t think were possible.”