A Senate committee hearing received testimony on the Equity in Educational Land Grant Status Act, which would extend land-grant status and concomitant federal aid to 29 Indian tribal colleges and postsecondary institutions. Senators and representatives of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, Navajo Community College, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, Sinte Gleska University, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Indian Education Programs endorsed the act and discussed the analogies between the mission of tribal colleges and that of present land-grant institutions, the underfunding of tribal colleges, the need for education in agriculture and natural resource management on American Indian reservations, and the opportunity for expanded rural extension initiatives that land-grant status would provide. Additional materials submitted to the committee include a list of the benefits of land-grant status; a description of the mission, philosophy, programs, students, and needs of Navajo Community College (NCC); statistical information on the Navajo community and economy; results of a survey of NCC graduates; and a proposed amendment to the bill. (SV)