“Georgia will no longer discriminate against a Christian college and bar it from a state financial aid program, following a lawsuit,” reports The College Fix.
Luther Rice College and Seminary can now receive vouchers under a Georgia financial aid program that lets college students use state-funded vouchers to attend private institutions.
Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the college, announced a settlement last week after filing a lawsuit in federal court two months ago.
“Georgia officials did the right thing by allowing Luther Rice to participate in student aid programs while still adhering to its religious beliefs, character, and exercise,” says ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Tucker. “We’re pleased that Georgia high school students can now receive dual credit by taking classes at Luther Rice and that college students who choose Luther Rice can apply for much-needed financial aid. The state should never limit educational opportunities for students based on their faith.”
“Divinity” schools or “theology” schools had been excluded by state law from the program, even if they also offered secular programs and degrees like math.
Under those exclusions, “no Luther Rice student can receive Georgia student aid for any undergraduate degree or course, not even for a course or degree in the school’s general studies or psychology programs,” the lawsuit stated.
But those exclusions appear to be invalid under Supreme Court decisions like Carson v. Makin (2022), which ruled that the state of Maine violated the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause when it refused to make public funding available for students to attend schools that provide religious instruction.
The president of the college expressed appreciation to ADF for obtaining a favorable settlement. “I commend the state and our partners at Alliance Defending Freedom for swiftly reaching a solution,” said President Steven Steinhilber.
Law professor Josh Blackman, who blogs at Reason Magazine’s Volokh Conspiracy blog, had predicted that the college would succeed in its lawsuit, based on past court rulings like Carson v. Makin (2022). “The Supreme Court has been fairly clear that states cannot exclude K-12 schools from voucher programs solely because of their religious character. The same principle should apply to higher education,” he said. “I don’t know how common these sorts of programs are, but religious colleges should be entitled to the same sort of funding as [a] secular college.”
