Illinois family battles state’s race-based scholarship
For many, going to college is a rite of passage—a step toward opportunity and realizing the American dream. College is where students meet like-minded peers, experience life away from home, and begin to find their place and purpose in the world. But if sky-high tuition and housing costs weren’t already significant barriers for many prospective students, the State of Illinois may have added one more: If you aren’t a racial minority, a big chunk of state financial aid may be out of reach.
*Louisa, a high school senior from the suburbs of Chicago, has long dreamed of becoming an elementary school teacher. She says she “never really had another plan” for her career. Growing up, she loved pretending she was a teacher with her younger siblings and envisioned a future in the classroom.
Louisa is less than a year away from starting college and laying the foundation for a future career as an educator. Adding to her excitement, Louisa’s years playing volleyball have scored her a place on her university’s team. “I’ve been looking at their volleyball program for so long, and now I’ve finally committed,” she said. “I’ve been meeting the girls and the coaches, and I’ve gone to a bunch of games. I’m just so excited to actually get in there and be a part of that team.”
Getting accepted to a great school and a great volleyball team were just the first steps in preparing for life after high school—figuring out how to pay for her education would be the next. Louisa’s acceptance to the school’s volleyball team came with a sizable scholarship. While this would provide some relief, it wouldn’t be enough to cover all the tuition and the cost of living off-campus.
Louisa and her family still face a steep financial gap between what they have and what they need. As they began to look for more scholarship opportunities, they came across a government scholarship program created specifically to aid students pursuing teaching careers. This seemed like the perfect fit for Lousia. But as she and her parents gave a closer look at the scholarship requirements, they realized she would not qualify. It wasn’t a matter of grades or a lack of extracurricular activities. According to the State of Illinois, the only reason Louisa didn’t qualify for the scholarship program was because she was the wrong race.
In 1992, the Illinois legislature approved the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program, which offers up to $7,500 each year for incoming or current students in the state to cover tuition, room and board, and commuter costs. The scholarship aims to address the state’s severe teacher shortage and is designed to fill the pipeline of aspiring teachers to opportunities in Illinois schools. The scholarship is renewable for up to four years as long as the student is enrolled in any university in the state.
Potential candidates must meet several stringent academic, financial, and residency requirements. Recipients are also required to commit to one year of post-graduate teaching at a school where 30 percent of the student population is from minority groups.
And the most important qualification of them all: The state scholarship is available only to students who are “African American/Black, Hispanic American, Asian American or Native American origin, or a qualified bilingual minority.”
Louisa meets every other eligibility requirement for the scholarship but is barred from applying because she is not a member of one of these preferred races. And the other comparable state scholarships for which she does qualify offer only half the aid that the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship does.
The state architects of the scholarship may have been acting with benevolent intentions, but their intentions do not overrule federal constitutional issues with the program. The Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program, like all state programs, must adhere to the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equality before the law. Creating a scholarship that favors certain races over others violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It’s simply wrong for the government to distribute educational benefits according to race. The cost of college doesn’t discriminate, and neither should state-funded aid.
Louisa is a student member of The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), a nationwide advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating racial distinctions and preferences in America. AAER has filed a lawsuit, with Pacific Legal Foundation’s help, to challenge this unconstitutional scholarship program and restore equal treatment and educational opportunity for all students, regardless of race.
“It is an absolute injustice,” Louisa’s mother said. Louisa and her family have decided to speak out against the discriminatory scholarship process for future Illinois teachers. “It is unfair,” Louisa said. “I feel like I’m out of luck.”
“I’ve always been vocal about things that aren’t right,” Louisa says, explaining why she wants to battle the unconstitutionality of the scholarship. The scholarship could bridge most of the financial gap between Louisa’s existing aid and the final amount. However, as long as the racial checkbox remains in place, Louisa and more otherwise-qualified applicants will never receive equal consideration and opportunity for the much-needed scholarship money.
“We talk about equality quite a bit with the kids, and we talk about opportunity versus outcome. Equality to me would be equal opportunity versus trying to make an equal outcome,” Louisa’s mother says. “There’s no way to make an equal outcome. People are different, they have different strengths, they have different callings, different motivations. But equal opportunity should be easy. Equal opportunity would be equality to me.”
Louisa and her family rightly see their state’s minority scholarship as an outright injustice, and Pacific Legal Foundation will represent them in their battle against the discriminatory state.
“One way to hold Springfield accountable is to send that message that this isn’t how you do things,” Louisa’s mother said. “There are a lot of problems in this state and having more, better teachers is a good goal, but picking and choosing winners and losers, and who you prop up and who you push down is not the way to do things.”
*Names have been changed to protect clients
