Wisconsin's 30-Year Minority Retention Grant Is Gone — And Similar Scholarships Could Be Next
Wisconsin's Supreme Court unanimously killed a 30-year-old minority student grant program — and the court's taxpayer-standing ruling could put similar race-based scholarships across the state in legal jeopardy.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state's Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant Program on June 24, ruling it violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. The program, created more than 30 years ago, provided financial aid to low-income Black, Native American, Hispanic, and Southeast Asian students — specifically those of Laotian, Cambodian, or Vietnamese descent who arrived in the U.S. after December 31, 1975. The court affirmed an earlier appeals court decision, siding with plaintiffs brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty who argued their son was denied access to the scholarship based on race. The ruling also establishes that taxpayers have legal standing to challenge race-based state programs in Wisconsin courts, which opens the door to further lawsuits. If you currently receive or are counting on a race-specific scholarship — at a public or private school — now is the time to identify need-based alternatives that don't carry the same legal exposure.
This issue draws on reporting and data from Inside Higher Ed.