Illinois may soon reward colleges for enrolling students with low high-school GPAs, by giving universities bonuses for enrolling them. That will not only lower admissions standards, but perversely encourage colleges to admit the students most likely to drop out and least likely to excel over the course of their lifetimes. Students with low high-school GPAs earn less over the course of their lifetime than students with high high-school GPAs, on average, even if they are admitted to college. After enrolling in college, students with low high-school GPAs are less likely to pursue graduate study, less likely to receive a patent, and more likely to fail professional licensing exams than students with high high-school grades.
This perverse proposal is one of several recommendations by the Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding. Under them, Illinois may soon also “give bonuses to universities for enrolling African American and Hispanic students,” reports The College Fix:
The recommendation by the Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding aims to address “the historic inequities” in education “especially among students from low-income households, students of color, students from rural communities, and working adults,” according to a news release.
But some higher education advocates say the proposal, if adopted, may be unconstitutional.
As part of a new education funding formula, the commission report recommends the Illinois Legislature give bonuses, or “equity adjustment amounts,” to universities to “incentivize and support activities that increase the retention and completion of historically underserved student groups.” Commission co-chair Pranav Kothari stated in the news release the funding model is “grounded in equity” to ensure “institutions receive funds needed to support the diverse needs of their student bodies and remove barriers to student access and success.”
The proposal recommends universities receive an extra $6,000 for each African American and American Indian student, $4,000 for each Hispanic student and each student of two or more races, and $2,000 for each rural student. It also includes additional money for students of low income, adult learners, and those with low high school GPAs. “The Commission worked deliberately and collaboratively to submit recommendations aligned with the statutory charge on a new funding formula to the Illinois General Assembly,” the Illinois Board of Higher Education stated…Commission leaders “look forward to working with legislators as they evaluate the Commission’s report and advance efforts that adequately, equitably and stably funds the state’s public universities,” the board stated. The commission is made up of 33 members, including state lawmakers, public university employees, students, and representatives of education advocacy organizations.
Sadly, the bonus for students with low GPAs is probably not unconstitutional, unless there is a smoking gun that it was proposed for racial reasons, and uses low GPA as a racial proxy. Such a bonus is stupid, but the Constitutionally usually does not forbid stupid government policies.
But the racial bonus for black and Hispanic students violates the logic of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down race-based affirmative-action admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (the Students for Fair Admissions decision).
Paul Vallas of the Illinois Policy Institute says the proposal may be unconstitutional. Vallas, a moderate Democrat, is an ex-CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. “Given the Supreme Court issued a decision declaring university enrollment based on race is unconstitutional, I would believe that providing supplemental public support to universities based on race may also be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court was clear, though, that socio-economic factors such as income can be considered in deciding enrollment, which would help achieve a similar objective for those most in need.”
Jonathan Butcher, a fellow at The Goldwater Institute and the Heritage Foundation, says the racial bonus is illegal. “These changes appear to be in clear violation of state and federal civil rights laws. The U.S. Supreme Court decided last year in the Students for Fair Admissions cases that the use of racial preferences in college admissions was unconstitutional. Yet this proposal from Illinois seems to be based on racial preferences.” Butcher said the racial bonus also violates 42 U.S.C. 200d (also known as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: “Students, parents, taxpayers, and lawmakers should be furious that these officials are planning to treat students differently based on race.”
Vallas says the proposed bonuses mask rather than solve the root causes of problems in Illinois’ state colleges, namely, “the lack of quality school choices at the K-12 level.” Due to poor school quality at the K-12 level, many students are “unprepared for higher education and more likely to drop out. Those most at risk are poor families, which are disproportionately Black and Latino.”
