University of North Carolina Expands Financial Aid Following Supreme Court Affirmative Action Loss

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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said Friday it will provide free tuition for more low- and middle-income families.

UCN Chapell Hill's announcement comes more than a week after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action based on race in the admissions process at the state's flagship school.

UNC-Chapel Hill was one of two universities that championed racially conscious admissions before the superior court of the United States. The other was Harvard University.

The Supreme Court ruled that the proceedings at the two schools violated guarantees of equal protection under the Constitutiona historic decision that will affect both colleges and universities across the country as well as low-income and minority students.

The university institution announced that it will offer free tuition to students who are residents of the state and whose families earn less than $80,000 a year, according to the university's president, Kevin Guskiewicz, in a statement.

“We want to make sure that students know that financial constraints should not get in the way of their dreams,” the chancellor wrote. “Our responsibility to comply with the law does not mean we will abandon our core values ​​as a university,” he added.

The new measure will come into force for students who start the course in 2024according to the statement.

In the North Carolina case, the prosecution argued that the admissions policy was discriminatory against white and Asian candidates versus African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans.

Positive discrimination or affirmative action gained special importance in the country during the movement to defend the civil rights of African-Americans and the end of racial segregation in schools in the 1950s.

The Supreme Court had protected since 1978 the right of universities to consider race as a factor in the admissions process, albeit in a limited way.

The Supreme Court ruling did not place any restrictions on racially neutral financial aid.

Keep reading:

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– The marked turn to the right that the US Supreme Court took this week (and what is coming now)