Liberty University student asks Supreme Court to overturn religious grant exclusion

Liberty University student Bethany Hall was granted $5,000 per year under Virginia’s Tuition Assistance Grant to study music education. After she altered her course of study to youth ministries and subsequently to music and worship, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia cancelled the award, invoking a long-standing eligibility rule that excludes vocational religious programs identified by CIP code 39. Hall, represented by the National Legal Foundation and supported by the First Liberty Institute and Alliance Defending Freedom, contends that the denial infringes her free-exercise rights and has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the precedent set by Locke v. Davey.

The 4th Circuit dismissed her appeal, reaffirming that the earlier ruling remains binding law. Advocates for Hall argue the policy discriminates against students pursuing religious vocations, while critics maintain the state is within its rights to maintain the exclusion that has existed for decades. The petition was filed on August 11, asking the Court to reconsider the constitutional validity of the grant’s religious restriction.