When Royce Griffin weighed his college options two years ago, scholarship offers played a big part in his decision.

Griffin, who is Black and hails from Jackson, Mississippi, chose the University of Missouri in large part because it offered him a scholarship that covered more than $20,000 a year in out-of-state tuition costs. Known as the Diversity Award, it’s a scholarship given to high-achieving students from racial or ethnic backgrounds that are underrepresented at the university.

But last month, after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote in a letter that colleges there had to adopt race-blind criteria for scholarships following the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down affirmative action, the university announced it would not offer scholarships like the Diversity Award to future applicants. When Griffin found out about that decision, he worried it could limit opportunities for students of color.

“It’s a really important scholarship for us,” said Griffin, a rising junior studying in the university’s top-rated journalism program. Without that aid, he said, he couldn’t have afforded to go to college outside of Mississippi: “It puts us on that same playing field as our white counterparts.”

The text of the Supreme Court’s ruling, released last month, is limited to college admissions and says nothing directly about scholarships. But some state officials and college leaders have interpreted the decision to include scholarships that consider a student’s race, too — a view some legal experts say could hold up in court.

Officials with organizations that represent financial aid administrators and diversity officers in higher education are cautioning colleges to take their time in deciding whether the ruling applies to scholarships, and to wait for forthcoming guidance from the federal government. That guidance, slated to be released by mid-August, is expected to outline which admissions practices and student programs remain lawful in the Biden administration’s view.

Read the full article about race-based scholarships by Kalyn Belsha at Chalkbeat.