Wisconsin Bans Grants for Minority Students
Credit: halbergman / Getty Images- A Wisconsin appeals court decided that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on race-conscious admissions extends to a grant program for minority students.
- The Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant — created for Black, Native, and Hispanic students and certain Southeast Asian students — provided up to $2,500 per year, up to four years, to eligible students.
- The decision comes weeks after the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter telling schools that race-based scholarships and other state-funded race-based initiatives are illegal.
- Despite the race-based admissions ban and decreased aid, more underrepresented and and historically excluded individuals are applying to and graduating from college.
Wisconsin is the latest state to end a state-funded race-based grant as new laws and bills target diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the U.S.
The Wisconsin District 2 Court of Appeals made the decision Feb. 26, drawing a similar conclusion as the U.S. Supreme Court did when it rescinded race-conscious admissions as part of the Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College case in 2023.
“Indeed, those principles appear to apply to nearly every context in which government attempts to use race, national origin, ancestry, or alienage as a discriminating factor…,” Judge Mark Gundrum wrote in the decision.
The ruling prohibits all state-funded colleges and universities from offering the Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant, which was created for Black, Native, and Hispanic students, and certain Southeast Asian students.
In the 2021-22 academic year, the state allocated $819,000 for the scholarship program, which provided up to $2,500 per year for up to four years for students who were attending college at least half time.
The decision comes just weeks after a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Department of Education (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) stated that race-conscious “scholarships, prizes, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” are illegal discrimination.
Two weeks later, the OCR released an FAQ for schools that confirmed the new guidelines were here to stay.
The Push Against Race-Based Initiatives in U.S.
The decline of race-specific aid in higher education began with the 2023 Supreme Court case.
It ramped up near the end of former President Joe Biden’s term as conservative-leaning state legislatures began to outlaw DEI activities in higher education.
Almost a year ago, the Ohio Legislature became one of the first to question if race-based scholarships were unconstitutional, using the same interpretation as the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The majority opinion expressly holds that disguised race-conscious admissions policies are race-conscious admissions policies all the same,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a letter at the time.
Near the end of 2024, education institutions like the University of North Carolina System began dismantling their DEI departments without laws or lawmakers pressuring or forcing them to do so.
As Trump’s second term progresses, efforts against initiatives for historically excluded students have increased.
Trump’s executive order defining sex as solely male and female, assigned at birth, could also threaten LGBTQ+ initiatives like gender-inclusive housing.
The University of Kansas (KU) recently got rid of one of its gender-inclusive living spaces. Idaho lawmakers are exploring a bill to ban mixed-gender bathrooms, which would effectively ban gender-inclusive housing at state institutions.
While KU is far from the first to ban gender-inclusive housing, it may become a trend with the new national regulations.
The federal government briefly paused all funding to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 1890 National Scholars Program scholarship for students at 19 historically Black colleges and universities before reinstating it shortly after. In late February, Florida revoked in-state tuition for undocumented students.
More Underrepresented Students Are Applying to and Graduating From College
Despite the affirmative action ban and a decrease in aid, more underrepresented learners and students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are not only applying to college but also earning degrees.
According to the Common App, the number of applicants identifying as underrepresented minorities grew 13%, while the number of white applicants declined slightly.
Lumina Foundation found that 55% of all working-age adults in the U.S. have a college degree or credential. The degree and credential attainment rate rose 37% for Black adults. Hispanic and Latino/a attainment grew almost 50%, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) attainment rose 17%.
“The nation has made tremendous progress over the last 15 years. Every type of person has increased attainment, whether they’re Black or brown, rural or urban, or low income,” Courtney Brown, Lumina’s vice president of strategic impact, previously told BestColleges.
“And it is because of the work that states have done across the nation to really dig down and think about this.”