photo by: Journal-World File

A sign at the entrance to Haskell Indian Nations University is shown Friday, Aug. 5, 2016.

After an entirely remote 2020-2021 school year, Haskell Indian Nations University will once again hold in-person instruction in the fall.

A Sunday email from Haskell Registrar Lou Hara states that Haskell will hold in-person, hybrid and online classes in the fall. Any class listed with a room and Haskell building will be an in-person class, Hara’s email states. When asked for a copy of the email, Hara directed the Journal-World to Haskell’s Vice President of Academics, who did not immediately respond. A copy of Hara’s email, however, was posted by Haskell’s student newspaper, the Haskell Indian Leader.

Fees for on-campus students in the fall will be $715, and off-campus student fees will be $240. Haskell is a tuition-free institution, but students must pay semester fees. This pricing marks a return to student fee prices prior to the pandemic. As the Journal-World reported, some Haskell students were upset with student fee prices for the 2020-2021 fall semester. Despite being entirely remote, Haskell students were charged $715 for the online fall semester, the same price on-campus students were previously charged.

Haskell decided to go remote for the 2020-2021 academic year due to COVID-19, and the “climbing COVID numbers in Indian Country,” according to a November message about the spring semester. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities, including American Indians and Alaska Natives. In August, the CDC found that in 23 selected states, the cumulative incidence of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases among American Indians and Alaska Natives was 3.5 times that of non-Hispanic whites, according to a press release.