Christian college sues Ga. for banning students from financial aid program
A Christian college in Georgia has filed a lawsuit against a state commission for prohibiting students from accessing financial aid to pay for their education.
Luther Rice College and Seminary filed a complaint earlier this month in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, naming members of the Georgia Student Finance Commission and Georgia Student Finance Authority as defendants.
At issue, according to the lawsuit, is that Georgia prohibits private schools that are considered a “school or college of theology or divinity” from participating in their public tuition assistance programs.
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“Even though Luther Rice otherwise qualifies for Georgia student aid programs, Georgia officials excluded Luther Rice from the state’s student aid programs because ‘most of [Luther Rice’s] offerings [are] religious based and non-religious degrees [are] substantially intertwined with the school’s religious mission,’” stated the complaint.
“Because of that exclusion, 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. And no Georgia high school student can receive dual credit at Luther Rice.”
According to the complaint, Georgia allows other religious schools to participate in their programs, making Luther Rice “the only excluded nonprofit school that is located in Georgia, is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (‘SACSCOC’), and awards undergraduate degrees and thus otherwise qualifies for the Georgia student aid programs.”
Luther Rice is being represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious liberty legal nonprofit that has a history of winning cases at the United States Supreme Court.
ADF Legal Counsel Andrea Dill told The Christian Post that she believes it's “unconstitutional for the government to deny a religious school a public benefit solely for its religious beliefs.”
“People of faith cannot be discriminated against for choosing the school that best aligns with their beliefs. The U.S. Constitution does not prevent the state from including religious organizations in state funding programs,” Dill said.
“To the contrary, the Constitution prohibits the state from excluding religious organizations from otherwise available public benefits solely because of their religious character or exercise.”
Dill added that since “Luther Rice College otherwise qualifies for Georgia student aid programs,” Georgian officials “cannot exclude Luther Rice students from such programs because of the religious character of the school they chose to attend.”
The Christian Post reached out to the Georgia Student Finance Commission for comment, however a spokesperson said they “do not comment on pending litigation.”
In June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of David Carson et al. v. A. Pender Makin that Maine’s state tuition assistance program could not prevent parents from using the funds for schools with religious instruction.
