A new measure seeks to stop higher education institutions from awarding financial assistance to students based on race or sex.
House Bill 3559 by State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) aims to prohibit race-exclusionary scholarships and would end the advertisement of financial assistance based on race, sex, gender, or sexual orientation.
Student financial assistance is defined under Texas Education Code Sec. 56.011 as “grants, scholarships, work-study programs, student loans, and student loan repayment assistance.”
Race-based scholarships have already been interpreted as illegal by some under Texas’ anti-DEI law, Senate Bill 17, which is meant to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and policies in public universities.
SB 17 states that a university may not promote “policies or procedures designed or implemented in reference to race, color, or ethnicity, other than policies or procedures approved in writing by the institution’s general counsel and the office of the attorney general.”
Texas A&M University has provided its administrators with legal guidance warning against awarding financial aid based on race, sex, ethnicity, or gender, citing federal law and SB 17.
However, the University of Texas at Austin’s guidance states that “scholarships based on race, color, or national origin should be carefully reviewed by the institution’s legal office to determine compliance with the law.”
With the current law not subject to various interpretations, Tinderholt is seeking to clear up the matter.
A spokesperson for Tinderholt told Texas Scorecard that the bill is the next step in eliminating identity politics from higher education.
“Representative Tinderholt believes that financial assistance should be primarily based on merit, with need as a secondary consideration,” the spokesperson said. “Especially after passing SB 17 last session, it’s time for Texas to take our rejection of identity-politics one step further and guarantee this protection for our students. It’s time to ensure fairness and an even playing field in higher education.”
Following the passage of SB 17, more than 100 statewide scholarships were either frozen or modified. However, lawmakers never explicitly addressed how the law would impact student financial assistance.
“I think as we continue to refine higher education, we will see we’re starting to lean more towards a meritocracy,” Sammy Travis, a Texas A&M graduate student, told Texas Scorecard. “I say this as a black student because I wouldn’t want someone to look at me and say, ‘Because you’re black, you’re more deserving of a scholarship.’ If you believe that I deserve a scholarship more than someone just off the basis of my skin color, that’s racist.”
Travis also mentioned how the bill doesn’t prohibit students from seeking race-based scholarships from private entities unaffiliated with public universities.
“It doesn’t prohibit a student from going and applying for scholarships from the NAACP,” he continued. “The bill is simply saying that a university can only operate on the basis of a meritocracy, and there’s nothing inherently wrong about that.”
Matthew Poling, a parent and president of the Rudder Association, an organization that exists to promote the core values and traditions of Texas A&M, argued that scholarship awards should be need-based because “race is a poor proxy for need and gender is completely unrelated.”
“I understand the desire to try to diversify certain fields, but it always seems to be a one-way street,” Poling said. “Where are all of the scholarships to encourage men to go into education or veterinary medicine?”
The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-based affirmative action also did not explicitly address race-based financial aid. However, many Texas universities have since eliminated or altered such scholarships to comply with SB 17.
If passed, HB 3559 would go into effect on September 1.
