UNC to offer free tuition to some students following Supreme Court affirmative action ruling
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will offer free tuition to some in-state students after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in admissions, the school announced Friday.
In-state students whose families make less than $80,000 per year will receive free tuition starting with the 2024 incoming class; the average price of tuition at UNC is about $9,000 per year for in-state students.
“We want to make sure students know financial constraints should not stand in the way of their dreams,” Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a statement to students.
The Supreme Court said the university’s affirmative action process — the use of race as a factor in college admissions — violates the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th Amendment. The admissions process prioritized applicants from minority backgrounds.
“Our responsibility to comply with the law does not mean we will abandon our fundamental values as a university,” he added. “We are and will remain passionately public, and we will ensure that every student who earns admission to Carolina can come here and thrive,” Guskiewicz said.
Due to the ruling, universities will be restricted on asking perspective students about their race. However, applicants can choose to disclose their race and how that has impacted their lives, if they wish.
Harvard University’s admissions program was also struck down in the pair of court decisions.
“The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. “Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
The rulings were harshly criticized by the academic community and advocates for the Black community; the Congressional Black Caucus called the rulings a “backlash to progress.”
“By delivering a decision on affirmative action so radical as to deny young people seeking an education equal opportunity in our education system, the Supreme Court has thrown into question its own legitimacy,” the group’s statement reads.
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